Robin Hood
by Kitty Invictus
Summary: This one happens after A Breed Apart Powerful psionics Robin and Will become mutant x's eyes and ears inside the strand, but are they really what they seem? BS and EJ. ch 9 finnally up.
1. 1The bomb

Robin Hood

By: ShalCat-Kitty

Disclaimer: Well if it's on fan fiction, it's pretty obvious that most of it belongs to someone else. But a girl can always dream.

This story is dedicated to my little brother Connor, because he gave me candy. Also sometimes I will dedicate separate chapters to other people. _And if I'm in a crazy mood, items. _For example this chapter goes out to my teddy bear, Sir cheese cake the second because he's the cutest damned thing I have ever seen. That includes some of the hunks in the show.

Hey guys I just wanna say hi. This one happens right after "A Breed Apart" and if you didn't see that episode. Gabriel Ashlock, the first new mutant escaped and started a new group of new mutants called the Strand. The four new mutant members of mutant x gained new powers. The strand captured Shalimar and took over Genomex. Brennan, Emma and Jesse got Shal back and Shalimar and Brennan almost kissed.

I don't really have a summary for you because I just write what's in my head and it turns out how it turns out. Although I do know that there will be the following parings: B/S, J/E, and A/R. oh by the way that R stands for Robin (a character I made up.)

OK: each chapter will have five sections. Each one will be from a different character's point of view. Most of the time it will be the five main characters but sometimes it will be someone else.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chapter 1: The Bomb xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Brennan: **_A few minutes before sunrise._

"Shalimar!" I heard myself cry out in anguish. How could I have let something like this happen to her. I couldn't help as l watched her crumple to the ground.

The digital clock in front of me displayed 1 minute and 30 seconds and it was counting down. 1:29… 1:28…

"Shal." I shouted across the room trying unsuccessfully to get her attention.

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**Emma:**

Leaning over the blond molecular's shoulder to see the computer as he typed dangerously fast I tried again to contact any of the others.

"Shal are you there?" Her com ring was activated but she wasn't responding. Also we couldn't pinpoint her position. " Bren?" His was the same. Adam had turned his off telling Jesse and I that he could not be interrupted.

Jesse turned his head as he stopped typing. "It's no use. I can't find them." He sighed in defeat.

"It's ok we have to keep trying." I told him and he turned back to the computer.

"Ok what's next?" he asked ready to try anything.

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**Adam:**

I ran as fast as I could, Robin right behind me. Millions of thoughts were racing through my head as fast as I was running. There was apparently a bomb some where in the building about to go off. Robin grabbed my arm.

"No this way." She said out of breath and pulled me in another direction. I could see, through the windows, that the sun was about to rise and she had told me that the bomb would go off with the sunrise. I didn't know how long we had been running but we were almost out of the building. I decided now was a good time to contact the others. While following Robin, I took my ring out of my pocket and put it on.

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**Jesse:**

"Hey is anyone there?" We heard Adam's voice. He had reactivated his ring

"We hear you Adam." Emma answered. "What's up?" She asked concern layered in her tone. She obviously noticed as well as I did that Adam was out of breath.

"Well Robin and I are in the Strand's new base." He paused for a second then continued. "She planted a bomb somewhere inside and it's set to explode sometime really soon. Who's there with you?"

"I am." I entered the conversation. "But we don't know where Brennan and Shalimar are. We're trying our best to find them though."

"Ok. We're far enough from the building now." Adam told us. "Keep me posted if you find the others."

"No problem." I said then turned to the young psionic behind me. "One down two to go." I told her and she smiled. I forced my self to look back at the computer then the two of us went back to trying everything we could to find our team mates.

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**Shalimar:**

Some one's shout had jogged me slightly back to consciousness and I hung there precariously for I don't know how long. Everything was blurry and my whole body was throbbing with pain. From my limited vision I could almost make out the dark haired elemental.

As my vision started to clear, I used my feral powers to see the clock on the bomb, it displayed 13… 12… 11… I tried to say his name, but it came out no more than a small whisper. I was too weak.

He was no better than I was. I could see him slumped over the device fiddling with wires desperately. He struggled to breath and I could tell he was light headed from the way his head moved slowly in minuscule circles.

8… 7… 6… He seemed to remember what he was doing and worked furiously. 4… 3… He had to stop the bomb. 2… 1…

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TBC 

Wow I liked this chapter. I'm sorry if I got anything wrong or spelt stuff wrong. I've only been watching the show for a little while and I don't know very much. From what I do know though I'm trying to make the characters as "in character as possible." If you have any comments that would help me, I love constructive criticism. Thank you for reading chapter one of my very first mutant x fic.


	2. 2The shoe

Robin Hood

By: ShalCat-Kitty

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

This chapter goes out to my best friend Katie because every time I get obsessed with a new tv show, I get her addicted as well. I've been trying to get her to watch mutant x but so far she hasn't budged. When I get season one on dvd I'll duct tape her to a chair and force her to watch it. Ha Ha Ha.

Ok guys I'm back with the blazing second chapter. I hope y'all like it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chapter 2: The Shoe xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Shalimar: **_6 days earlier_

With jogging clothes and headphones I ran one more lap of the sanctuary. By now I was soaked in sweat. The others were all out at the moment so I was getting some exercise. When I finished my laps, I headed for the training room.

I wrapped my hands carefully and started pounding the punching bag. I was still listening to music and moved I time with the beat. I let out any and all of my frustrations about everything that had been going on lately. Most of those frustrations were directed toward one person in particular. A smart assed elemental that I happen to know.

When I finished with the punching bag I picked up a quarterstaff and started a simulation. When that was over. It had been almost 3 hours since I started running laps. I was completely exhausted so I decided to have a bath. Before I could leave the room. I heard the others coming. I stopped as Jesse, Emma and Brennan entered.

"Weren't you supposed to be relaxing." Brennan asked.

I rolled my eyes. "You knew the whole time you were gone that I would be training. And to me that is relaxing." I told him. I started walking again and when I passed him our eyes met and I just sighed at him, we shared a secret smile. I didn't think that Jesse and Emma noticed the look I gave him, but I hope they didn't.

While soaking in my bath, I listened to some of Emma's classical music. It was surprisingly soothing and I no longer felt the need to hit something hard. Soon my thoughts drifted towards a guy with nice dark hair. It was then, I realised that my anger toward the elemental were more toward myself. I had just been looking for someone else to pin the blame on.

I didn't know why I was angry with myself for what I was feeling. Is it truly that wrong to feel that way towards a sweet and handsome young man. We were friends but something inside me had changed. It was difficult to be around him. Like if I just kissed him right in front of everyone it would be ok again. I didn't know if he felt the same but he could. He did smile at me different but that could have just been a figment of my imagination.

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**Emma:**

I was in my room looking in the mirror, practising my new powers and I could hear classical music drifting from the bathroom I shared with Shalimar. She must have accidentally put on one of my CDs instead of hers. I waited for it to turn off but it didn't.

"Good." I said quietly to myself. "That girl could use some real relaxation." I wondered if she had realised that I had seen the smile that passed between her and Brennan.

There was no need to read their minds though. Even if I had not been a telempath, I would have been able to tell. It was clear that they felt something for eachother, even if they did not realise it themselves. I wondered also if Jesse had noticed as well.

I decided to go to the lab. Adam was back by then. He had gone to do something, but he hadn't told us what. As of late he had been quite secretive, I thought perhaps that he had a girlfriend or something. We all respected his privacy though and did not push.

When I got there he was at the computer doing something. "Hey." I announced my presence, still standing in the doorway.

"Come in Emma, how can I help you?" he said turning around to look at me.

"I'm very well thank you." I replied courtly. "I was just wondering if you had had any developments?" I looked at the computer screen. On it there were pictures of two people. I wasn't close enough to read any of the text though. He noticed my gaze and looked over his shoulder at the computer.

"I'll explain that soon," He stated. "but perhaps It will be easier if I tell everyone at once, what do you say?"

"Well." I shifted so I could lean on the doorway. "Shalimar is having a bath and Brennan and Jesse are training. So right now is not a good time. It does not seem completely life threatening. So, I'm going to the kitchen, would you like some tea?" I asked.

"Why thank you Emma that would be very nice." He responded. I left to make us some tea.

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**Jesse:**

My new powers were hard to control so Brennan and I were working with them. First we started by him sending electricity at something like the punching bag and I would touch it and phase it. Each time I would alternate between letting the electricity pass through and bounce off. The young psionic walked by and stopped to watch for a moment. She was a constant observer of all things that went on in the sanctuary. I guessed it came with the territory of telempathicy.

"You guys had better be careful." She said before starting to leave.

"Hey Em. Where are you going?" Brennan asked her.

"To the kitchen for some tea. Do you guys want anything?" She smiled.

"No we're fine." I responded. She left and I watched her go until she was out of sight. Brennan caught me off guard with a little shock.

"Dude. If I weren't on your side, you would be unconscious right now." He laughed. "Don't turn you back."

"Ouch." I put my hand on my heart. "That hurt." I said sarcastically.

We started training again. This time I tried phasing the punching bag without phasing myself as well. It was harder to do but I quickly mastered it. That's when I had an idea.

"Hey Brennan. I'm bored what do you say we go for something bigger like the wall?" I asked.

"Well my electricity is kind of boring to throw through the wall." He stated blankly.

So I picked up my shoe. "How about this?" I tossed it to him.

"This sounds interesting." He tossed the shoe from hand to hand.

"Give me your best shot." I taunted. I took a deep breath and phased the wall. Brennan threw the shoe and it went through the wall.

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**Brennan:**

I saw the shoe go through the wall, then we heard a crash followed by a scream. I realised that the kitchen would be on the other side of the wall. "Jesse. That's the Kitchen. Emma." I spat out.

The look of pure terror in Jesse's eyes was astounding. "Oh god. Emma." He bolted out of the room. That was the fastest I had ever seen that boy move, even when he was running from GS agents. I went after him. As I got to the kitchen he was on his knees with Emma in his arms.

"Emma wake up please." He said tenderly as he brushed a piece of hair off her forehead. I could see blood on her forehead where he had brushed away the hair. Slowly I saw her open her eyes. Jesse hugged her tight.

"I thought I told you two to be careful." She said weakly. Jesse helped her up. The room filled with the smell of strawberries as a feral entered the room drying her wavy blond hair with a towel.

"What are you guy's doing? What's going on?" she asked. Adam came in behind her.

"Yes. What is going on?" he repeated.

Emma put her hand to her forehead and winced. Jesse opened his mouth to explain but her voice cut him of. "I bumped into that cabinet and it fell over. I fell too and hit my head on the counter." She covered for Jesse and I. "I'm ok though, it's just a head wound."

"That looks pretty bad." Jesse said. "We should take you to the lab and get it fixed up for you." He helped her out of the room, Adam went with them.

When they were all gone Shalimar put her towel on the counter and picked Jesse's shoe up off the floor. She eyed me suspiciously. "What really happened." I knew then, if I didn't tell her, that she would probably beat it out of me.

"Well Jesse had an idea to phase the wall and that I would throw something at it. I guess we didn't really think it over to much. " I shrugged. " I guess what happened from then on is probably like Emma said."

She looked at me sincerely. "You and I need to talk."

"Look I'm sorry Shal. It was Jesse's idea. I was just an innocent bystander." I quickly defended.

"No. We need to talk about what happened the other day after you guys saved me from Gabriel." She got a few steps closer and my mouth went dry. I wasn't very good in situations like this.

"Oh that." I choked. "I…um…uh." I couldn't speak. She smiled. She had moved close enough now that our faces were only inches apart.

"OK. Some other time." She kissed me on the cheek and tossed me Jesse's shoe, which I dropped, as she left. All I could do was stand there looking through the doorway like an idiot. How was it that she always managed to shake me up so much.

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**Adam:**

I could tell from the second Emma told me what happened, that she was covering for Jesse. We were in the lab and I bandaged her head. Jesse watched the whole time, then he and Emma left.

When they were gone I remembered that Emma had gone to make us some tea, but hadn't finished. So I decided to follow through with her earlier plan. When I got to the kitchen. The Cabinet had been righted again and everything put back inside. Also Brennan was sitting on the counter starring at what looked to be Jesse's shoe.

"What's wrong Brennan?" I asked him. He jumped at my voice. He was absorbed in thought and hadn't heard me come in.

"Oh it's nothing." His lie was transparent, but I didn't push for more information. Sometimes when it came to this team of new mutants it was better to let them work out their own problems.

"I'm gonna make myself some tea. Do you want anything?" I walked over to the teapot and found a teabag.

"No thanks. I'm good." He took the shoe, picked up a towel from the counter and left. When I was finished I sat down to drink my tea. Then I called everyone to one of the computers to show them the info I had.

"These two." I pointed to the screen. "Are new mutants. They are fraternal twins, Robin and Will Cunningham. They are both very powerful psionics, Yet the database says nothing about either of their abilities. They want to join us." I told them.

"You mean they want to join the underground?" Shalimar asked.

"Not exactly." I tried to think of a way to explain it. "They want to be our eyes and ears, inside the strand. They want to be part of Mutant x."

"Ok." Jesse said. "That makes a little more sense."

"But won't Gabriel know that they're phony." Emma interjected. "I mean he'll either know himself, or someone else with psionic abilities will sense that they're lying." She did have a point.

"I asked Robin the same thing and she told me that they had a way that no one would know." I explained.

"You mean you've already met with one of them." Brennan spoke up. "And you believe her. " He shook his head at me as if I had been duped.

"That is Will's power. If someone wants or fears (even in the tiniest way) that something is true, he can convince them that it's true."

"Ok I guess we should give them a chance, but we should still be cautious." Emma said.

"Agreed." Jesse said.

"Agreed." I said.

"Agreed." Shalimar and Brennan said.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

TBC

Ok guy's if your still reading you rock. Remember, if there's anything wrong, like technicalities with the show, just let me know. I'm always up for constructive criticism.

_Hey look I went back and fixed the whole thing so if this is your first time reading this chapter, ignore the comment in italics at the beginning of the next chapter. It is referring to something I changed after some very nice reviewers pointed me in the right direction._


	3. 3The kiss

Robin Hood

By: ShalCat-Kitty

Disclaimer: See chapter 1: I'll write it but only because I don't want to get sued even though I've already told you and it's pointless from hear on in, cause if the characters and basic plot weren't mine at the beginning why would they be mine now or in later chapters for that matter.

_Thank you so much all you guys who pointed out the whole Jesse shoe thing. I kinda thought he couldn't phase stuff like that but I wasn't sure. Also thank you very much psionic-sweety The changes I made were mostly your idea. Just to let anyone know those changes were **not my idea.** That brilliant streak came from psionic-sweety_

Something Brennan says in this chapter will be recognised by any Alias fans out there. (Vaughn. Season two. Episode 13: Phase One.)

Ok this chapter goes out to anyone who reviewed the first or the second chapters, or both. Because anything you say can and might be used to help me.

Hope you like it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chapter 3: The Kiss xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Jesse: **_later that night._

I was watching tv in the rec room and I was nearly asleep. Then there was suddenly a hand on my shoulder. "Can I join you?" I heard the young psionic's voice. I put my legs down on the floor to make room for her.

"Sure Emma." I smiled and she sat down.

"Whatcha watching?" she asked while taking a handful of my popcorn.

"Some tv movie. I wasn't really paying attention to it. I don't even know what's going on." I admitted.

"I could tell." She giggled.

"How long were you watching me?" I asked defensively. She had probably just seen me start to drift off.

"Only a minute or two, but long enough." She took the bowl of popcorn and looked at the screen. I watched her for a couple seconds before looking at the screen myself.

After a few minutes I still didn't understand so I turned to her again. "Are you as sleepy as I am?" I tried to start a conversation. I decided I didn't like the movie.

"Yes. I'm a little sleepy, but you aren't." her playful smile lit up at the confused look on my face. "I just made you think you were tired."

"That wasn't very nice was it?" She giggled a little more at my response.

"Well I'm not the one who came up with the idea to throw your shoe through the wall." She absentmindedly touched her forehead at the memory. She gave a small gasp in pain.

"What you did was justified. I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking." I reached out to touch her forehead. "Are you ok?"

"Yes I'm fine." With out even realising what I was doing, I ran my fingers down her cheek. She looked into my eyes questioningly. I dropped my hand back to my lap. I kept my feelings in check though because if I felt or thought too hard, she would sense exactly what I was feeling.

"Thank you for covering for me. I don't think he bought it though." I stared into her eyes intently they pulled me in.

"Well the movie's over I should probably get to bed. As I said, I'm a little sleepy." She still held my gaze. I don't think either of us blinked as I took the empty popcorn bowl from her and set it down.

"I should probably do the same." I said turning off the tv with the remote then setting it down. We both stood up and still our eyes were locked. I don't know how long we stood there, in our trance.

Emma looked away for a second and I followed her gaze to the doorway. A few seconds later Shalimar came through.

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**Shalimar:**

I walked into the rec room to find Jesse and Emma. They were both leaving though, probably off to bed.

"Hey guys." I said smiling.

"Hey." Jesse said as he left.

"See ya." Emma said as she followed suit. When they were both gone, I went to the kitchen to get a snack before I went to bed. As I entered the kitchen, I saw that I wasn't the only one with the idea. He was sitting on the counter.

"Hey Bren." I said to the elemental. I smiled and received a weak smile in return. "You ok?" I asked concerned.

"I'm cool, it's just. What if these people aren't what they say they are?" he seemed worried, he wasn't the only one.

"It seems we're in the same boat you and I. So we're going to have to watch each others backs. Ok." I jumped up on the counter beside him. He nodded. While sitting there I forgot why I was there.

After a moment he spoke. "You know Shalimar. It's hard." There was something in his tone, an undertone of something very intense. His face was serious and I could almost feel his electricity radiating from his whole body.

"What?" I was almost afraid to ask.

He took a deep breath. "What happened or at least almost happened between us, you and I." He flexed his jaw muscle. He wouldn't look at me. "I'm gonna say something and it'll either be obvious to you or seem presumptuous. Either way I've got to say it. This isn't working. I don't know what the hell to do."

My eyes burned into the side of his face. I wanted him to look at me. "What?" I said.

He closed his eyes for a second and opened them. "I think you know what." His voice was smouldering, about to explode. He was near tears, so was I.

"I need you to tell me." I knew as soon as I had said it that, it would put him over the edge. But there was no way to avoid it.

He looked me straight as the crow flies in the eyes. His eyes were burning with electricity. "You need me to tell you that when Adam sends you on operations without me, I can't sleep at night. You want me to tell you that when we're going over missions, I have to force myself to remember what we're reviewing when all I want to do is kiss you." I didn't know how he had managed to stop himself from yelling.

Talking quietly was a much smarter thing to do though because the sanctuary was pretty open and if you were yelling, anyone else could hear you. We both had tears in our eyes just from pure emotion. I smiled. "Sometimes it is hard to remember what we're supposed to be talking about." I admitted.

"That's what I'm talking about. What makes me crazy." He started. "It's hard to hide something like that, from you, from the others. It's like they wouldn't understand, I don't know what to do anymore." He sighed and looked at his hand on the counter beside mine. "I mean it's like if I kissed you, everything would be ok."

I put my hand on top of his and our fingers intertwined. "I know." I said. Feeling the same as he. "but then I think if I do that, then we'll either have to hide it from everyone or just come right out and--." He silenced me with his lips.

We kissed slowly and tenderly. It quickly heated up though and we pulled each other closer. I put my hands around his neck and played with his hair. The suppressed emotions that we had both been feeling exploded out of us tenfold. I pulled away a little but kept kissing him, while trying to keep myself under control.

"You know." I accented each of my words with a passionate kiss. "We should stop." We slowly pulled away and I swallowed, he still had his hand on my cheek and he played with a strand of my hair. I put my hand over his.

"I know. Some one could see." he stared longingly into my eyes. "Good night Shalimar." He kissed my forehead, jumped off the counter and left. I just smiled to myself as I watched him go.

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**Emma: **_5 days before chapter one._

I yawned and opened my eyes. I liked the morning maybe not in the sense of waking up early but in the morning every thing is new. It all has new perspective. Everything is calm and peaceful. I stretched and got out of bed. I had a quick shower and got dressed.

Then as I left my room Shalimar passed by, she was smiling. No, she wasn't just smiling. She was glowing. "Oh Emma." She acknowledged me. I walked a little faster to keep up with her bouncy pace. "Adam wanted to see us all as soon as we've eaten breakfast." She said.

"Ok. Where are you headed?" I asked her. She smiled and turned to go in a different direction than I was headed.

"Training." She waved. She turned around just before she was out of sight. "Oh and tell the guys for me will ya, about Adam. When they finally get up that is."

"Bye." I waved. I thought that maybe she just drank too much coffee. I went to the kitchen and made myself some breakfast. I was just sitting down when Brennan came in.

"Hey." His greeting was just as peppy as Shalimar's. It was kind of creepy.

I smiled. "Hey." He went about making his breakfast and sat down. "Adam wants to see everyone when we've all eaten." I picked up my dishes and started to leave. "If you see Jesse, can you tell him for me?" I left and went to watch Shalimar train. It was always quite interesting to see my team-mates kick but, even if it was virtual but. It was almost an hour later that we were all in the lab and Adam was ready to explain.

"Ok guys. Robin and Will Cunningham have agreed to meet." He pointed to a screen. "A café." On the screen was a picture of a café, which I found a little redundant because we all knew what a café looks like. "Emma and Brennan, you guys will come with me to meet them. Jesse and Shalimar, you guys will stay here and hold the fort ok."

"Sounds good to me." Shalimar said.

"Me too." I was glad that I got to meet them, The inflection in Adam's voice when he spoke about them made them sound like nice people.

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**Adam:**_ Early that afternoon_

Brennan, Emma and I walked into the café. We all satdown at a booth. Soon after that, Robin and her brother joined us.

"Hello." I said to her mostly but also to her brother. "This is Emma and this is Brennan. "I said, gesturing to each of them respectively.

"I'm Robin." She introduced herself. "And this is Will." She gestured to her brother. Both Robin and Will had brown hair and green eyes. We sat and discussed how they would contact us and how we could get information, decoding processes and other stuff like that. After about an hour we were all done so we decided to head back to sanctuary.

"So, I guess that will be all. "Will said. He smiled at Emma and she smiled back. "I can't wait to meet the other members of your team. Shalimar and Jesse was it?"

"Yes. Perhaps you will meet them soon." I suggested although I didn't really care.

"That could be difficult. The more we see you, the more we put everyone in danger. If Gabriel saw us with you he might think we were in league with you." Robin said. Even though she and I had met many times. But that was different.

I motioned for Emma and Brennan to get up then we all started to leave. "We'll be in contact soon." Will told us. With that we left.

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**Brennan:**

"So Emma do you trust them?" I asked her in the car on the way back. Adam had taken a different car. He wanted to stop for something before heading back to sanctuary.

"I think they seem very trustworthy, I didn't really ever doubt them." I didn't like her answer. I still wasn't convinced that they were good for their word. I went back to driving. I was ok with Robin but Will just seemed as if he was up to something.

The smile he had given Emma wasn't just friendly. I knew that if it had been Shalimar he was smiling like that at; I would have wanted to rip his head off. I just didn't like the guy.

When we got back to the sanctuary. We found Jesse training. "Hey Jesse." I said and kept walking toward my room.

On the way I turned a corner and I saw Shalimar jogging. I was reminded of when she had discovered her new power by kicking my ass. This time I jogged in front of her and started jogging backwards.

"Hey Shal, how's it going?" I smiled. She looked at me and kept jogging. I was concentrating on not tripping and she just laughed when I looked down at my feet.

"No." She told me. "Look here." She pointed to her eyes. I did what she asked. By concentrating on her movements I could tell when to turn. We made almost a whole revolution of the sanctuary and slowed down to a walk before we reached the training room. Then I started walking beside her until she came to a stop.

"Well that was fun. "I said a little bit out of breath.

"Yeah. You seemed to be getting good at it too. " She smiled.

We walked past the training room but the others didn't notice us. Jesse was still training and Emma was watching him. When we got to Shalimar's room I stopped at the doorway.

"Oh come on Brennan, you've been in my room plenty of times before." She pulled me in and closed the sliding door. "Have a seat. I'll get changed and be out in a minute." She went into the bathroom that her and Emma shared and I sat down like she said.

A moment later the bathroom door opened and she came out wearing black leather pants and a tree quarter sleeve black shirt that had a split in the front showing off a small triangle of her stomach. I loved her clothing; she always managed to look good. Even the jogging clothes she was wearing made her look good.

"You look good." I told her. She came over to me and she sat in my lap leaning back so her head was on my shoulder.

"Really" she giggled and I looked her in the eye. She was so happy. I nodded and gave her an affectionate kiss.

"Doubt though the stars are fire." I started to quote Hamlet. "Doubt that the sun duth move. Doubt truth to be a liar. But never doubt my love. Oh my dear Shalimar. I have not art to reckon my groans, but that I love thee best or most best. Believe it I do." She just melted. "It's from Hamlet." I told her.

"That was amazing Brennan." She kissed be. "It was beautiful."

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TBC 

That hamlet quote, I got from (Joan of Arcadia. Freedman after Judith dies.)

So this chapter had a lot of fluff, but I promise there will be some but kicking eventually and even some confusing prophecy and some other stuff, but I guess you have to keep reading to see what will happen. Don't forget, if you tell me about any problems I'll try to fix them. Unless the story wouldn't make sense if I changed it.


	4. 4The prophecy and The traitor

Robin Hood

By: ShalCat-Kitty

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Ok this chapter is dedicated to my cat Mika because she has been trying to help me type. And I have to stop every five minutes to play fetch with her. She's a very saucy cat.

Also I would like to thank anyone who reviewed and anyone else who has decided to read this. I write for you guys. I'm having fun writing this and hopefully soon I will have season 1on dvd, as soon as my dad takes me to futureshop to waste all my Christmas money.

If you're looking for a disclaimer it's in the first chapter.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chapter 4: The Prophecy and the Traitor xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Adam:**

Robin and I had decided to meet after leaving the café. So I waited at the abandon warehouse, until she came. I sat on a crate as I waited. We had been meeting for almost two months now. Her and Will had been keeping tabs on some rouge new mutants for me. It turned out that they were part of the strand hence the idea to join the strand and feed us info.

She got there and I greeted her with a smile. She smiled back. I enjoyed our meetings. We had to discuss some things, mostly about what she would be doing at genomex. Basically she and Will would be giving us info but without her brother's knowledge she would be subverting some of Gabriel followers and copying computer files. We didn't feel the need to risk Will's involvement.

"I was wondering if you could use your powers to see something for me?" I asked her. She was a seer. She could see future, present, and past. She nodded.

"Sure Adam, but I'm warning you now. You might not like what I see." She smiled.

"I want to know what's in store for mutant x." I stood up to stand beside her.

"Ok." She concentrated and her eyes went white. After a few seconds she spoke in a distant chilling voice.

"_When a single wave of the moon thrashes against the shore of the earth. Then will the courage of heroes of old be tested against the strength of the pestilence that wave will bring. _

_The one who will save us is the one we could lose. A small strand found in a cat with lightning in heart._

_The child of evil who's name is not what it seems. Ancestry of the one who leads may be closer to that of the cat, than any may know."_

When she stopped, her eyes returned to normal and she shuddered. "Whoa, that was intense." Her voice was barely a whisper. She breathed out slowly and closed her eyes. I thought to myself that perhaps she was trying to shut out what she had seen or felt.

"Is it always like that?" I asked putting my hand on her shoulder to steady her, she looked as if she might fall over.

"No. That was… unexplainable." She shook her head. "The fate of mutant x is tied with that of this world." She shivered. She sat down on the crate I had been sitting on and pulled her knees up to her chest hugging them with her arms.

I pulled a pen out of my pocket and she helped me write down word for word what she had said in her trance.

"Normally I get a vision or a riddle, but never both." She seemed scared.

"Well." I said calmly. "Some of the members of mutant x have been experiencing boosts in their abilities, maybe this is something like what happened to them." I explained.

"That's a little more reassuring. But that's not all that scared me; it was the vision itself that…" I could see tears in her eyes. She looked like a little girl hiding from the monster under the bed.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to Robin." I told her. Maybe I didn't want to know what she had seen.

"No I have to tell you, it could help with the riddle." She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "Ok here goes."

Her words were shaky but I let her continue.

"There was a meteorite, gigantic. It crashed into earth. The destruction was very minimal and still there were so many dead. Everywhere, people crying, afraid.

Then I saw a young woman, blond hair. She was on the ground, hurt bad. Your team-mate Brennan he was there close by. He's an elemental, electricity."

I hadn't told her anything about the others except for their names. She didn't know their powers what they looked like. Except for Brennan and Emma who she had just met. All she knew about them was their names.

"Then I see you and the blond one. There's another woman as well, older. The three of you are standing side by side. You're all smiling."

She stopped and looked at me. "When I get visions they come with feelings and the last vision was a good one. The others though, all I felt was pain and suffering."

I had written everything down, she was right; I now had some guesses at what the riddle meant.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Shalimar: **_that night._

We were all at the club sitting at the bar; everyone except Adam that is. A song I liked came on so I took Emma's hand and dragged her into the crowd. As we started dancing, Jesse and Brennan joined us. When that song was over, a slow song came on. The dance floor quickly split into groups of two. I looked to Brennan in silent agreement, neither of us wanted to chance dancing as a couple in front of the others.

We started to walk back to the bar when Jesse took Emma's hand. "May I have this dance?" he asked. She smiled and they started dancing.

"It can do no harm now." Brennan's extended his hand to me. And so we danced and then more, loud techno music came on. We all headed to a couch in the corner. Our seats at the bar had been taken.

We had been there for ten maybe fifteen minutes and Brennan got up. "I have to go for a second. I'll be back." He left. When he got back he sat down next to me. We all sat there and talked. Then when the song ended, the DJ came on the speakers.

"Hey everyone. I hope you're all having a great time tonight, but we're going to slow it down for a song. I've had a request from a young man. He wanted me to play this song for his very special girl who makes him feel like quoting Shakespeare. She'll know who she is." I glanced at Brennan in disbelief as _Don't wanna miss a thing _by_ Aero Smith_ started playing. He winked, I wondered how he had known that it was my favourite slow song.

"Hey guy's we're gonna go dance." He told the others taking my hand. They didn't really notice though. I don't even think they noticed that a slow song was on. Brennan took me far enough into the crowd that the others couldn't see us and he kissed me. Then as we slow danced he mouthed the words to the song. He was the sweetest.

I put my head on his shoulder. "I love you." I told him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Robin:**

I was fiddling with my necklace and Will walked over to me. "Would you stop that already?" he said annoyed. "We're going to meet Gabriel soon and if you act suspicious, our plan won't work." I stopped.

I wasn't just nervous about trying to fool a very powerful new mutant. I was worried about what I had seen that afternoon. I was scared for everyone now. Because if I screwed this up, it could affect mutant x (not to mention Adam.) And if they failed at whatever tests would come, the whole planet could be affected.

I didn't know exactly what my vision meant, but I sure as hell didn't want to find out the hard way. I was also concerned for Adam. We had become friends, maybe even more and I didn't like the thought of disappointing him. Let alone being the cause of pain to him and his team.

Will's beeper pulled me out of my thoughts. It was our signal to go to a warehouse to meet Gabriel. As we walked towards the building I noticed, a big 0.0 spray painted in red on one of the columns on the steps into the warehouse. Inside it was dark. The only light came from two torches, one on either side of the door.

Three dark figures detached themselves from the shadows and walked into the light. It was Gabriel and to each side a woman. One of them had blond hair, the other with dark skin and darker hair. Gabriel was intense; he walked right up to us.

"Welcome both of you." He swept his hand around and lights turned on all around to reveal that there were many more people watching from the shadows and from a balcony above us. The warehouse was almost medieval, red curtains hung from floor to ceiling in some spots, and the majority of the light came from torches.

"Welcome to the strand." The two women at his side dispersed back into the mass of people who constantly moved closer to us. "Come everyone to greet these children of Genomex. I give you our new members Robin and Will. " His syrupy smile was undeniably handsome and still I did not feel I could trust him if my life depended on it.

Everyone came and shook our hands. When they were all finished. He shook Will's hand. "It is nice to meet you Will." Then he turned to me. "And it is nice to meet you Robin." He took my hand and instead of shaking it he kissed it like you would royalty. "Very nice."

If I hadn't know who he was I would have been flattered. And so that was how I acted. He was a sociopath. He had no remorse for anything that he did. I felt kind of sorry for him. Genomex had taken away his humanity, his soul.

After all of the introductions we were taken to what had recently been the GSA. Now it was Gabriel's stronghold. When we got there someone showed us where we would be working.

Once Will disappeared I decided it was time to get to work. I wasn't just feeding Adam info, like Will thought. I was going to copy computer files and subvert the strand from the inside. Steel from the rich and give to the poor. I was being completely faithful to my namesake, a direct ancestor of mine. Robin Hood famous outlaw and a truly noble man. I felt good to be doing him proud.

I carefully snuck away to find a deserted computer. I found a whole computer room empty of workers, lucky me. I pulled a disc out of my pocket. I started copying files, using special undetectable software that Adam had given me.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Gabriel:**

I sat at my new desk, the one I had taken from the pathetic GSA leader Mason Eckhart. The GSA had been easy to take over with their sad excuse for security and some people on the inside. Today we had inducted a few new and very powerful psionics, Robin and Will Cunningham.

I liked them, the girl was pretty and I could easily bend her to my will and the young man. I liked his smile; it reminded me quite a lot of my own. He could convince you of anything with that smile. I could see the power behind his eyes. He would make a nice commander. I could really see him going places.

The door opened and one of the followers working on the computer systems came in. Andrew Turner, a tall young man with short cropped light brown hair and uneasy brown eyes. "Excuse me sir. There's something you might want to see." he was nervous.

"Well come in Mr. Turner. Let's see what you've got." He passed me a disc that I put in the computer.

"It's footage from earlier today." He told me. On the screen I saw Adam and two of his people walk in and sit down at a booth. I recognised the man with him from when we took the blond feral from the safe house. And the girl with him, I had seen her briefly when they had rescued the feral. Mutant x I had learned, were not as easy to deal with as I had thought.

After thirty seconds two people joined them. It was Robin and Will. "Oh. This will do us no good." I stated as if my food was too hot. "I shall have to talk to our new recruits about their acquaintances." The information did not phase me.

I pressed a button on the intercom, on the desk. "Will Cunningham please report to my office immediately." I said calmly. I would use him to get to mutant x and to get the blond one, Shalimar. I needed her, she was vital to my master plan.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Will:**

Gabriel called me to his office. When I got there, there was another young man there with him.

"You summoned me Gabriel?" I announced my presence. Gabriel looked over to me for a second then turned to the other young man.

"That will be all Mr. Turner. You may leave." He said. The young man left. When the door closed behind him. Gabriel addressed me. "Hello Will." He smiled. "You've done a great job. Everything is going as planned I assume."

"Yes sir." I nodded. "I believe I have Adams complete trust. Coincidentally I believe he and my sister may have feelings for one another. Also I don't think my sister suspects a thing." I smiled.

"Very nice Will." Gabriel said. "There is one small problem though." He directed my attention to a computer screen to my right. As I looked I saw my sister. She wasn't at her post. She was in one of the computer rooms and she was copying files.

I cursed myself for not seeing it before. Robin and Adam had made other plans to steel data.

"It seems that mutant x has other plans." Gabriel's voice was angry. "I did expect something like this tough, so once we've gotten a read on the software she's using we'll backwards engineer it and give them a taste of their own medicine."

"I can stop her for you." I told him. "turn her against them." I could show her that Adam was the real enemy.

"No Will, that will be ok. She will be more convincing if she believes that she's working for them." He told me. I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off when the door opened again and Mr. Turner entered.

"Sir your not going to like this." He blurted out.

"What is it Mr. Turner?" Gabriel asked annoyed.

"Um. We can't get a read on the software. It's a quicksand virus. The more we try, the further into the system it goes." He was fiddling with at piece of paper. "Here's a printout." He passed the paper to Gabriel.

Gabriel read the paper, balled it up angrily and threw it in the trash can. He pounded his fist on the desk. "Mutant x has meddled with us for the last time." His tone was seething with hatred. "When I strike. I will use as much force if not too much to take them down." He shouted.

When he had calmed down a little he told Mr. Turner, nicely to leave. He left and when he was gone Gabriel turned to me.

"I have a plan." I reassured him.

"Ok then Mr. Cunningham. Lets hear it."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

TBC 

Ok guys hoped you liked it. Thank you guys so much for your reviews and your help if given. I really love that there are so many people out there that care enough to give their thoughts even if it's just a short. " Hey I like your story." It still means a lot to me. And I don't care if it's anonymous.


	5. 5The mission

Robin Hood

By: ShalCat-Kitty

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Ok. Don't forget. The clock is still ticking on the Bomb. My love to anyone who is still reading and anyone who reviewed. When the story is all over I'll write a poem dedicated to anyone who reviewed it will be after the last chapter.

This chapter is dedicated to "The Chip." Meaning any chip you ever see. The last potato chip in the bag. A computer chip in your remote control car. French-fries on a fish and chips platter. Even hot guys named Chip. This is for you.

_Katie, Laurel or Sarah if you're reading. Remember the New Year's party and you'll understand. "**The chip.**"_

Ok here's the 5th chapter for you guys hope you like it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chapter 5: The Mission xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Emma: **_4 days before chapter 1._

I was worried about Adam. In the morning I found him asleep in the same chair ha had been in since the afternoon before. When he got back from wherever he went after the café, he sat down with in the chair with a piece of paper. He must have read it over and over until he fell asleep. He looked peaceful so I let him be. I was the first one up and it was early. The sun hadn't even risen yet.

I made myself some breakfast in the kitchen then headed off to train. I never really did as much training as the others. But now, I had a new power to help me out. I turned on one of the simulations, a silent hologram. He came at me with a punch, I dodged and fought back with a round house kick. My kick caught him square in the jaw and sent him sprawling.

Like I had told Adam. I was tired of sitting around and playing with people's feelings. After beating a few more simulations, I wasn't tired yet so I picked up a quarterstaff. I had seen the others train with one but I hadn't ever done very much with the weapon before.

"Hey, you want some help?" I heard Jesse's voice. He must have seen me pick it up. "I can show you some basic moves." He smiled.

"Sure that would be nice." I told him. He walked up the stairs stood beside me.

"First of all. Your not holding it right. Put your hands here and here." He took hold of each of my hands one at a time and placed them in the right spots. "And your grip can't be too strong. You want to be able to move freely, but you also want to have control enough not to drop it. There's a delicate balance between a strong enough grip and too strong." His advice was very helpful.

"Like this?" I asked trying my best to hold on to it just the way that he had explained. He nodded and smiled.

"See. That will do, your getting the hang of it already." He stood in front of me and put one of his hands over each of mine. "Swing like this." He pulled the staff in the direction he wanted then stood to the side while I tried it on my own. We went on like this for a while and after about an hour, I had mastered the basics.

"If you have some time later today, I can show you some more complicated stuff, and we can spar." He started to leave.

"Hey wait up." I said putting the quarterstaff back and following him. "So your up early." I pointed out as I caught up to him. He smiled.

"Yeah. I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep." He said.

"Where are we headed?" I didn't know where we were going let alone why I was following him.

"My room." He answered casually.

"What for?" I wanted to know. I always wanted to know stuff, anything. I guess it made me feel more powerful, more complete.

"I've got something for you." He smiled. "I saw it in town and thought, I don't know why, of you."

"What is it?" all I seemed to be doing was asking questions. I didn't understand why he would just randomly buy me something. He was so sweet.

"You'll see." he said. "Well just think of it as an early birthday present." He seemed so relaxed. "I bought it a little while ago and your birthday is still too far off."

"I see." we were at his room by then. He opened the door and motioned me inside. His blue eyes watched me as he closed the door behind us. He walked over to a dresser and opened the top drawer. He took out a small box and closed the drawer again. He walked back over to me and passed the box to me.

I opened the box. Inside was a small silver locket on a thin chain. The locket was a small teddy bear with a flourished E on it.

"Wow. It's beautiful Jesse." I smiled. I took it out of the box and put the box on a shelf next to my arm. I loved it, but still. Jesse had given it to me. Did it mean something, did he have feelings for me. The thought gave me butterflies. I had caught him looking at me and then the other night, he had run his fingers down my cheek. He had stared into my eyes. Perhaps it was my imagination. Maybe it was me who had the feelings. I had admired him, without even realising it. His dirty blond hair with a cool style, his blue eyes, calm pools of light. I held up the locket to him.

"Can you help me put it on?"

"Sure." He took it and carefully clasped it around my neck as I held up my hair. I left his room after that, thanking him for the gift. He was going to have a shower or something.

As the day wore on I thought constantly of the mornings happenings. After much consideration, I decided to put a picture of Jesse in the locket. He had given it to me, and it only seemed fitting that it be his picture to occupy the space. The picture I chose was one of Jesse Brennan and I. Shalimar had taken it one day when we had the day off.

Looking at the picture, I remembered vividly that afternoon.

It was raining and we were all going to the mall. Shalimar and I had convinced the begrudging boys to come along with promises of pizza afterwards. When we left the mall on foot, it was pouring. Half way to the pizza place, Shalimar decided we needed a picture. So there it was. We were smiling like idiots and totally soaked.

I liked the picture so I copied it before cutting out Jesse to put in my new locket.

His soft eyes glittered with happiness, his hair was matted to his forehead by the downpour. I could see the individual rain droplets frozen in time before his face. It was a great picture.

Later Jesse and I trained like he had said. As we sparred we moved as one. Fainting, dodging, striking. The whole time, I was caught in his eyes. It was as if we had practised the match a thousand times before. In the end we decided on a truce even though we both knew he could beat me.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Brennan: **

I was sitting in a chair reading in the main area of sanctuary. Jesse and Emma were sparring with quarterstaffs, they were really working hard. My day had been relatively calm. I had lazed about mostly, just content to relax for once.

Shalimar entered the room, pulled a chair up beside mine and sat down. "Hey. How's it going?" she put her hand on my leg suggestively. I looked up from my book.

"You shouldn't do that." I said cautiously, but I didn't try to remove her hand that was resting on my thigh.

"It's fine." She smiled motioning to Jesse and Emma. "They're too busy beating each other with sticks. They probably don't even know we're here." Her voice was sarcastic and sexy.

"You're right. They seem really into their match." I put my book down and smiled. "If we made out right here, right now, do you think they'd notice?" I joked.

"Don't joke about that." Her eyes flashed yellow in warning. "It's not funny."

"I know." I said. "We are going to have to tell them eventually. But for now I like this. It's just ours." I put my hand over hers and played with her fingers.

Shalimar looked over to the training area and quickly pulled her hand away. Jesse and Emma had stopped their match. I hoped they hadn't noticed Shalimar's hand. It had been quite highly placed on my thigh.

Adam came into the main area then. "Good. You're all here." He smiled and motioned us all to a computer. He had information for us.

"I've gotten word from Robin. Ashlock is planning something." He pressed a few buttons on the keyboard. A map came up of the city. "There's something big going down here tomorrow." He pointed to a spot on the map. "Fourth and Central."

"Ok. What's going down?" Emma asked.

"Well I don't know. That's why I'm sending Shalimar and Brennan to check it out. Find out what Gabriel is up to and report back. Pretty basic stuff."

"Sure. What time? I asked.

"Seven a.m." Adam answered. After that we all dispersed. I went to my room, it was almost nine o-clock. I thought it would be a good idea to have some extra sleep under my belt for tomorrow. I still didn't completely trust Robin and Will.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Adam: **_3 days before chapter 1._

I woke up early and ate breakfast before any of the others woke. My thoughts would not stop. Robin's prophecy ran through my head over and over again. Brennan and Shalimar came into the kitchen as I was leaving. They were up and ready for their mission.

I could tell that Brennan had some misgivings about Robin and Will, but once we got this info from them I was sure he would learn to trust them. Also Robin had yet to give me the files she was copying.

If Ashlock found out about it and tried to trace my software; the virus I designed would burrow deep into his computer system. After copying everything it would corrupt it all. To see his reaction would be entertaining, but I doubted that I would be there when it happened.

When six a.m. arrived, Brennan and Shalimar had already left, Jesse and Emma were waiting by the computers to hear from them and I was in the lab.

At quarter to seven I went out to see what would go down. As I came up behind Emma and Jesse, I heard Shalimar over the Com Ring. "Ok guys. We don't want to give ourselves away so we'll be going radio silent until it's done, then we'll report."

Jesse looked over his shoulder to Emma and I, "Both Shalimar and Brennan have deactivated their Rings."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Shalimar:**

"So. What ever shall we do while we wait?" I asked Brennan, smiling and leaning over to kiss him.

"It was a good idea to come early." He said kissing me back.

"Too bad it wasn't early enough." I spotted Gabriel Ashlock entering the building. Disappointed, Brennan and I moved in to get a better view.

We stood by one of the windows peeking in. I couldn't see Gabriel. I turned to Brennan. "Maybe we should try a different window." I suggested.

"Maybe you should." I heard the voice from behind us. Brennan and I both turned to see Ashlock. He was standing at the entrance to the alley, blocking any attempt of escape we might try. It was hopeless. We would have to stand and fight.

Sparks appeared in Brennan's hands and I turned my eyes yellow, ready to fight to the death. 3 more people entered the alley to stand beside him. The first flashed his eyes yellow at me. The feral we had fought while trying to rescue Kelly. The second held out her hands to show sparks flying.

My mind raced. How had Gabriel known that it would be Brennan and I let alone that we would be there in the first place? Then I recognised the third person. It was Will Cunningham.

His smile was aggravating. Brennan had told me about Will. At the moment, his analysis seemed perfectly correct. I could see in the corner of my eye; Brennan's jaw muscle flexed. He was extremely pissed.

I saw him reactivate his ring. "Hey guys." Before he could say anything else, the two new mutants with the copycat powers of our own charged at us. As I countered my opponents attack, I saw sparks flying from both ends of the alley. We fought furiously with high flying kicks and punches, all four of us.

Will and Gabriel just stood by and watched. I jumped up spinning around to kick the other feral in the jaw knocking him to the ground. He got back up and threw a few punches. I dodged them but as I was about to throw one of my own, he caught me in the gut. I bent over in pain and he smacked me over the head.

I struggled and got up. I placed one nice punch knocking my opponent against the wall. Then kicked him in the head. He was done this time. Around the same time Brennan shocked the other elemental with enough force to knock her out. She didn't get up either.

I wondered what the others were getting from all of this, how much could they hear from Brennan's ring.

"It was a set up." I heard Brennan say, probably directed at Emma and Jesse. Brennan's hand sparked again, he was ready to attack the traitor and Ashlock I was prepared as well.

"Well you've got that right Sparky, but don't get overexcited. You wouldn't want to short yourself out." Gabriel remarked snidely. Brennan put out his sparks.

"Our powers are fine. I wouldn't short myself out. You should know that Ashlock." Brennan shot back.

"Are you sure?" Will's voice was sarcastic but still there was something that made my confidence flicker for a second.

Brennan motioned with his hands to make an tesla coil to throw at Ashlock. Nothing happened. "Shal there's something wrong." His voice was worried.

When my eyes changed colour, I could see better. I couldn't make my eyes change colour. "Brennan, my powers won't work." I was worried now too.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Jesse:**

We heard Shalimar tell Brennan that her powers wouldn't work. Then the sound went dead.

"Emma" I turned to the young psionic. "Are you getting any sound." I asked.

"No nothing." She answered. "Brennan. Are you there?" she asked to mid-air.

"What's wrong Jesse?" Adam asked me. He was standing close by.

"It was a set up. Gabriel knew they would be there. But just now, his com went dead. The locator is still active, I'll track them." I told Adam.

"I can't get a read on either of them." Emma said shaking her head.

"Ok." Adam was a little worried. Nothing really ever seemed to rattle him too much. "If you can't contact them in an hour go looking for them." He left.

I smiled at Emma, we had been in this situation before. "Looks like the brain is going to have to rescue the brawn once again." It wasn't a funny situation, but she laughed light-heartedly anyway. It was better to keep a good attitude when things like this happened.

I thought for a second about what I had given her the day before, she was wearing it. That made me happy that she liked it. I would much rather that the locket were shaped like a heart and not just a teddy bear, also that it was a picture of me inside.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

TBC

Ok chapter five is finished. Thanks guys. I wrote the major part of the first four chapters during Christmas break, so don't expect the rest of the story to come up as quick. But I promise that I will try my best to finish it before getting too involved with any other stories.


	6. 6The rescue

Robin Hood

By: ShalCat-Kitty

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

I'm back. Thanks for being so patient waiting for a new chapter. At school, we've had exams and stuff so I've been a little distracted. I would also like to thank you guys for any reviews. I re read my story every once in a while and I fix typos and stuff so if you have any comments I'll try my best to make any adjustments. If I change anything major I'll notify you.

Ok I've decided that this chapter is dedicated to my friend Alyssa because her boyfriend broke up with her and she needed comfort. We went to the movies and saw Elektra with my other friend Laurel and it was loads of fun.

PS: They got back together. I'm happy for her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chapter 6: The Rescue xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Jesse:**

An hour passed after losing Brennan's feed from his com. Emma and I tracked the signal to a warehouse. It was pretty obvious that this wasn't the strands main base, there was nothing there. I mean nothing.

"He's close." The psionic interrupted my thoughts. I looked at the ground and there was Brennan's ring. Right where he should be.

"Well his ring is here, but he can't be. There's nothing here, it's an empty warehouse." I said shaking my head.

"No he has to be here, I can sense him." She looked around confused. "I'm getting the same trapped feeling, like a subdermal governer but he's not chained to a wall. There's two of him and one is holding the other up against a wall."

"Like if he had convinced himself that his powers didn't work?" I said not quite understanding, but it was starting to make sense. "If it was a setup, it had to be Robin and Will. Adam said that Will could convince anybody of anything he wanted right?" I speculated. "What if he convinced Shalimar and Brennan that their powers wouldn't work."

"That would explain it. Wait." She held her hand up. She looked off to nowhere and she got a look in her eyes, the look she gets when she uses her powers. She turned slowly in a circle until she came to a stop. "That way." She started walking towards a wall.

"Um Emma. That's a solid concrete wall." I stepped in front of her. "Let me handle this." I started to walk in front of her.

"We should be ready. You don't know what's on the other side of that wall." She sounded worried. "What if they're waiting for us?" We were both standing by the wall now.

"Ok then what do you suggest?" I said.

"I don't know Jesse but just barging in there could be hazardous. Perhaps we should think through the ramifications this could have. If Gabriel gets his hands on all four of us, Adam will be defenceless." The red head sounded so serious.

"But I always just go through the wall, what's the difference now?" I tried to make my point.

"That's the problem. Have you ever thought that maybe I… I mean we worry about what's going to happen to you on the other side of any wall you phase through." Her voice was sympathetic, but still there was something else I couldn't pinpoint.

"I didn't even realise. I'm sorry." I put my hand on her shoulder. "But this time I have to. Brennan and Shalimar are depending on us." I felt bad now about just barging in there.

"Brennan's in there, but I can't get anything from Shalimar. She must be unconscious or something." She shook her head.

"Ok. I'll go in first. Brennan needs our help." I stepped up to the wall and phased walking through. On the other side was an empty room with doors all around. I phased again and walked back through. Emma was on the other side with her arms crossed.

"I assume it's safe?" The psionic questioned.

"Yeah. Come on." I put my hand on the wall, took a deep breath and motioned her through. I followed behind.

On the other side of the wall we found our selves in the room with doors. There were seven doors. I looked to Emma for an answer. "Ok. Which way now?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Emma:**

I closed my eyes and concentrated. I could sense that Brennan was close so I tried to hone in more specifically. This took a little more effort but I soon had my direction. I pointed to the third door from the left, I was sure he would be right through the door.

Jesse and I crossed the room and opened the door carefully. As we stepped through. We found ourselves in another empty room. Brennan stood in the middle with his arms crossed.

Suddenly I could feel hate radiating from Brennan, a sense of betrayal, anger, rage, and confusion. He no longer felt restrained. I put my hand on the molecular's arm to stop him.

"Something isn't right here." I told him quietly. Jesse looked at me questioningly but before he could say anything a bolt of electricity hammered into the wall beside me, barely missing me. I cried out sharply.

"Bre—" Jesse started.

"How could you do this?" Brennan's voice was cold. It was also directed at me.

"Do what? What did I do?" I asked him. He held out his hand and sparks flew from fingertip to fingertip, ready to strike me. His own friend.

"You betrayed us. You betrayed Mutant X." He threw a thread of lightning my way, but Jesse was ready this time. He pulled me behind him and maxed out letting the electricity bounce off him.

"What are you doing Brennan? We're on your side." My protector said after returning to normal.

"You may be Jesse, but she's not. She's the one who sold us out, Shalimar and I." Brennan said. "Now she's sold you out as well." I couldn't believe what was happening. Ten or so of Gabriel's links came in through side doors and stood off to the sides. Blue eyes watched them enter then turned to me.

I didn't understand. I hadn't done anything… wait… it had to be Will using his powers to control Brennan. I looked pleadingly at Jesse for help. He seemed even more confused than I felt.

"Shalimar is dead because of you Emma. I will never forgive you." Brennan seethed. Now I understood his rage. But Shalimar couldn't be dead, it had to be another of Will's tricks. I didn't doubt that for a second.

"Brennan" I called out to him, not just with my voice but with my powers. "It's Will. He's messing with your head. It's not true." I tried to tell him.

"No Emma stop. I know what's true. Don't use your mind tricks on me." He looked then to Jesse. "She had us all tricked Jesse. She's a traitor." The molecular looked to him and I could see that he was on the verge of doubt. He looked back to me.

"Jesse please believe me. I didn't do anything." I starred him in the eyes seeking something, anything that would tell me he trusted me. There was nothing there.

"Who are you going to believe Jesse? Me or her." Brennan shouted. Blue eyes searched back and forward between Brennan and I. I couldn't tell who he believed more. He wouldn't let me into his mind.

He grabbed my arm forcefully and started to pull me toward Brennan.

Will appeared at one of the doors. "It seems your friends have deserted you Emma." His gloating tone and smile were annoying. I knew though that I couldn't let him win. If I could just make sure that I didn't fear in any way that I couldn't get them back. If I did Will would be able to convince me that it was impossible.

I didn't let my belief falter. As I got closer to Brennan I tried to hit him with one of my brain blasts but it did nothing. There was still a strong arm pulling me toward Brennan. I tried sending them both memories of times we worked as a team. Nothing happened.

It was impossible; I couldn't stop it. Now Gabriel had us all.

We all started walking now out of the warehouse, Jesse still tightly holding my arm. I tried to walk as slowly as possible but he just pulled me harder, I tripped and almost fell. Will went first with a few of Gabriel's links following, then the three of us, then the rest of the links.

Before I knew what was happening, Jesse let go of my arm and smacked Brennan upside the head, knocking him out. Then he maxed out and attacked the links behind us. A few more of them came at us so I took care of them with a brain blast.

We starred down the last couple and Will, as they slowly approached.

"They're not worth our time." Will said. "Let them go. We have the Blond one that's all that matters." He and the rest of the links left.

I turned to Jesse. "How did you?" I was wordless.

"Never doubted you." He smiled. "All an act." I don't know what possessed me to do it but I took a step toward him and hugged him with a great big sigh of relief.

"You had me worried." I told him with my head pressed against his chest. He pulled away a little and raised my chin with his gentle hand.

"I would never doubt you." He smiled. We both stood there transfixed for a moment. "We should probably get him back to sanctuary now." He pointed to an unconscious Brennan on the floor.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Adam: **_2 days before chapter 1._

It had taken us most of the day before to convince Brennan that it was not Emma who betrayed him and that Shalimar was still alive.

The poor guy. I didn't have to be Emma to see that he and Shalimar had feelings for one another. I can't imagine the grief he must have gone through, thinking she was dead.

As I walked to the kitchen to make myself some breakfast, I passed the dojo. Brennan was pulverising a punching bag. Even though this time was worse, he always got like this when something happened to Shalimar. I'm surprised I didn't see it sooner, the way his anger was worsened when it was Shalimar and not one of the other members of mutant x.

After a quick breakfast I watched him go at the punching bag for another fifteen minutes.

"Perhaps it is not the best thing to wear your self out completely like this Brennan." I commented as he stopped for a second.

"Adam. It's my fault they have her. Again!" he punctuated his words with punches.

"No Brennan it's not your fault. Will set you up." I tried to reassure him. "As soon as I get any information as to their whereabouts, we'll extract Shalimar and Robin. They are both going to be fine."

"You know Adam. Robin could be behind this as well. Or are you to blinded by her that you don't see it? She's the one who gave us the info. She suggested that you send Shalimar and I." His words were cold.

"I can't believe that she would betray us." I tried to defend her.

"Oh and her brother would?" He had stopped punching and was now standing next to me.

"I have known Robin for a while now, but I only just met Will. I don't trust him like I do her." I said.

"Not even a week ago Adam. You yourself said _"To hell with anyone who stands in our way."_ She's standing in our way Adam. You may trust her but I sure as hell don't." With his last comment, Brennan stormed out of the room.

I wondered if any of the others shared Brennan's doubts about Robin. How could I convince them all of what I knew to be true? Robin wouldn't knowingly betray us.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Gabriel:**

Everything was going perfectly, falling into place just as I had planned. We had the feral and once they were done with her in the lab she would lead us to her friends so they could be destroyed.

I watched in amusement as one of the links tried to sedate her. "I'm afraid that will not work on our feral friend here." I pointed out.

"You're damn right it won't work." Shalimar said venomously as she struggled harder against the restraints. "You may have found some way to stop my powers Ashlock, but I can still kick your ass."

I smiled and sighed at her comment. "You know Shalimar. You will join us if you wish to or not." I shook my head at her as if she were a child. "Why make it hard on yourself?" She was beautiful and spirited. She would be mine.

"I've said it twice and I'll say it again." She seethed. "In your dreams." I only laughed at the statement. She would either fear it or want it in some tiny way and then Will would use his abilities to bend her to our way of thinking.

Speaking of the young man. He appeared beside me. "Do you want me to change her mind?" he grinned.

"No not yet. It is far too entertaining to see her struggle. We will wait until it is necessary." I told him. I couldn't wait to see her betray her friends. Then I would have Will let her think for herself. Just for a short time to see what she had done. Then I would have him make her mine again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Brennan: **_that night_

It was hard to be at sanctuary. Every minute I just wanted to put my fist through the wall. Then again, when I left the anger was still there. I was pissed at Adam for trusting Robin so blindly and I was pissed at myself for letting Gabriel get his hands on Shalimar again. Hell. I was even pissed at Jesse and Emma, and they hadn't done anything.

I think it was pretty clear to the others, the reason for my frustration. I didn't want to admit it but I was being so transparent I might as well have written "**Hey everybody look at me I'm in love with Shalimar!**" on my forehead in permanent marker.

After leaving sanctuary I headed to a safe house. I just needed to get away, be alone with my thoughts. When I got to the safe house, I slumped down in a chair.

This was the same place we had been at when Ashlock took Shalimar the first time. Who knew what they were doing to her now? Why had I let Will use his powers on me in the first place. I could have prevented all of this and saved her if I just hadn't let him convince me that my powers didn't work.

I knew that I had to stop beating myself up, but I didn't want to blame anyone else. I started training again, push ups and sit ups lots of them. I was so tired but I didn't want to sleep. I decided that Adam and the others weren't working fast enough. I could find her on my own.

I sat down by the computer and typed away trying everything to get a clue as to the whereabouts of the strand. I wasn't the great and powerful hacker like Adam or Jesse but I had my sources.

I had been working for a couple hours when something popped up on the screen. Incoming audio message. After a few seconds I heard her voice.

"Brennan. I know that your at a safe house so I'm sending this to all of the safe houses not in use. You're probably thinking where are you? Are you ok? How did I know you are at a safe house? I'll tell you. I'm ok for now, Gabriel wants me to help him find sanctuary. I'm going to go along with it for now but I'll give him some place in the middle of nowhere. I knew you'd be at a safe house because you'll be pissed and you don't want to hurt anyone.

You have to be alone. Train a little and relax. I know you Brennan. Right now I'm headed to the safe house on the east subway pass. I'll pretend to hack the computer for the security codes. I'm sure Adam will have changed them. So don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Love you." She sounded rushed. That was Shalimar take the deadly mission all on your own.

It took me a second to realise it but… she was headed to the safe house I was in.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

TBC 

ok guys this one I thought it was going to take forever. By the time I was done Emma's and Jesse's parts I already had a lot so I just made the other parts shorter. I don't know about you guys but I'm excited about Chapter 7 I mean there's only like a day and a couple hours before chapter 1.

Also thanks again for being so patient. I'm trying my best but sometimes you can't rush stuff like this.


	7. 7The rainstorm

Robin Hood

By: ShalCat-Kitty

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

So it is decided. This version of the chapter will be sticking around. I think I like it better. It has the standard point of views, although it only has four of them.

Any comments you guys made on the previous chapters are very welcome. It helps a lot to know some one is reading this.

This one is still dedicated to Dave. Even though we are no longer dating. But we are going to try hard to be friends, then maybe we can try the whole dating thing. I mean I know I still like him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chapter 7: The Rainstorm xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Brennan: **

I quickly made some dummy files for her to download then turned away from the computer. I had an idea. I pulled a box out of the bag I had packed. I took out the tracker and got it ready in my hand to plant it on her. I knew she was coming soon. My angel, my Shalimar.

I sat down for a moment waiting for the blond haired feral to arrive. Mentally preparing myself for what would happen when she got there. My heartbeat picked up with anticipation. It couldn't be much longer now I stood and waited.

The door to the safe house suddenly blasted open and the two of them entered. It was all I could do to appear surprised. I wished I could go to her and wrap my arms around her. She was so beautiful, her long blond hair matted in tendrils over her shoulders from the torrential rain coming down outside.

Ashlock's voice cut through my thoughts "It's no use Brennan. Shalimar here has decided to join us. She is no longer part of your team. She is mine now." I knew that it wasn't true but it still hurt.

Shalimar leaned over and whispered something in patient zero's ear and smiled at him. He nodded and she looked back to me. She started walking slowly and suggestively down the stairs toward me.

As she got closer, she taunted me. "What's the matter lover. Can't take it that you're not good enough." She said. Her face was hidden from him so she looked at me sympathetically. She hadn't meant a word of it. There was hurt in her eyes as well as my own.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she circled me putting her hand on my cheek as she went. Once she had made her way back around in front of me, she got close; very very close. To Ashlock she appeared to be teasing me, but before she pulled away, I heard her voice in my ear.

"I'm ok Brennan. I'll be fine. I miss you." It was so quiet that after a second, I almost thought I had imagined it. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, pretending that her teasing had hurt me for Ashlock's sake. Not like it was that hard to fake hurt that was already there.

I reached out and grabbed her arm. "Please Shal this isn't you." I said, keeping up the act. She slapped me unexpectedly, then pushed me away.

"Shut up Brennan. I know who I am." She spat out at me, but our eyes locked in silent agreement. She was sorry.

I put my hands on her shoulders and made her face me. I also took the opportunity to plant the tracker on her jacket without her knowledge. "Shalimar please, you have to remember. Remember what we stand for." I could see she was fighting back tears because we both knew what she was going to do.

She punched me hard in the jaw and I fell backwards to the ground pretending to be unconscious, although it didn't take much effort. She had punched me hard.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Emma:**

I was reading or at least trying to read, but I just couldn't concentrate. This didn't come as a surprise though. I was worried about my teammates. Shalimar had been taken hostage, Brennan had taken off after an argument with Adam and Adam himself had left without an explanation. And to make things worse, Jesse and I couldn't get a trace on any of their comlinks.

I was anxious and reading wasn't working so I put my book down and looked over to the blond at the computer. From where I was sitting I could see the word "CHECKMATE" flash across the screen. It was weird because normally he could kick the computer's ass. I thought perhaps that maybe he was worried as well over our friends' absence.

He exited the program and turned his chair to face me. "I'm sorry." He said unexpectedly.

"Whatever for Jesse?" I asked him.

He stared at me. "For pretending that I didn't trust you." Although we were on opposite sides of the room, I could still see the piercing blue colour in his eyes. He smiled and I smiled back.

"You don't have to be sorry. It worked didn't it?" I said. I stayed still for a second. He was still staring and it was making me a little uncomfortable, especially because I couldn't read him. "How do you do that?" I asked.

"Do what?" he was confused then. But I thought he knew what I was talking about anyway.

"I can't read you. Nor could I at the warehouse. You shouldn't have been able to fake me out like you did." I said.

"I don't know. Maybe by living around you for so long now, I've developed a natural immunity to your powers." He smiled and blue eyes to blue eyes, he concentrated on me again.

"I guess I kind of like it. Not being able to read someone." I smiled. "I mean, sometimes it's nice to know what others are feeling, but I like a good mystery once in a while." He stood up and started to cross the room toward me.

"I think I get what your saying." He said. I stood as well. "I mean, I like pizza but I wouldn't want to have to eat pizza all the time." He was halfway across the room now and he stopped. I started to fill the distance between us without even knowing it. My heartbeat quickened. "And," he continued, "I have to admit I'm a little glad that you can't read me. I mean I do have some embarrassing feelings too."

"Oh." I said quietly. "Like what?" I asked him lifting an eyebrow, at his possibly insinuating comment. I was now right next to him.

"Um…I" he practically whispered. He brought his hands up to cup my face and they moved slowly down my neck.

I slowly closed my eyes reveling in his gentle touch. His hands paused at the thin chain around my neck. I looked down at the teddy bear with a flourished E, then met his eyes again. "Open it." I whispered breathlessly.

He opened the locket and I was happy to see the delighted look on his face. He stepped closer.

"Emma I…" he started but was stopped by my finger on his lips.

"No Jesse." I stared him in the eyes. "No more words." I opened my mind and somehow managed to read his emotions. His emotions were something I hadn't expected. They were strong. I sent him back my own feelings.

We had what you could call a silent conversation passed between the two our sets of blue eyes, which stood scant inches apart.

His lips brushed mine, and my heart fluttered. I kissed him back slowly and brought my hand up and played with the short hairs on the back of his neck.. I hadn't even realized my feelings until only days before, but his kiss. His mouth tasted so good. His own unique flavor, I had kissed guys before but with Jesse it felt different. It felt so natural, so normal.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Shalimar:**

After punching Brennan I walked over to the computer and downloaded some dummy files Brennan had left for me. I had to hold back tears at the thought. Even though he knew I was coming he hadn't left. Instead, he had prepared files I could download fake out Ashlock. Speaking of the devil he started to walk down the stairs. I quickly pulled the disk out of the drive and turned back to face patient zero.

I had to keep a sort of disinterested look on my face. It was hard because all that I wanted to do was go to Brennan who was lying on the ground, pretending to be unconscious. The only thing that stayed my movement was the duty to mutant x to get information from Ashlock and this dangerous game was the only way I could think of. I knew I had Ashlock fooled for the moment. But eventually I would not be able to keep up the façade and then I would be in trouble.

"I've got it now let's go." I said. As I walked passed the "_unconscious_" Brennan, my heart broke. He looked so hurt and I had done it. I had to get out of there soon or I was going to break down in front of Ashlock.

Once we left, I was so glad to be back outside in what seemed to be an endless downpour. The water that came down on us covered up the fact that I was crying uncontrollably. I knew that Brennan didn't blame me, but it was still hard. I wanted to go back to him so much. I wanted to kill Ashlock for what he was doing.

I held back the sobs that tried to escape with my tears. Tears for the hurt in the elemental's eyes and tears because I was on a fool's mission and if I failed, my death would cause the elemental even more pain.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Jesse:**

I looked down at the psionic in front of me. She was beautiful, smiling and I had just kissed her. I could feel the connection between our minds, and it was intoxicating.

I leaned over slightly and kissed her shoulders one at a time. Then I moved my way slowly up her collarbone, to her jaw line and finished with two teasing kisses on either side of her lips. She tired of my game and put her hands on my face kissing me on the lips. Slowly our innocent kisses turned heated with unspoken passion and desire.

My hands found their way to her waist and she giggled as my cold fingers brushed against the sensitive skin exposed by her short-cropped tank top.

Emma stretched up on her toes to wrap her arms around my neck. Without breaking contact, the two of us start moving toward the hall that led to our bedrooms, bumping into furniture.

We stop halfway down the hall and I pushed her forcibly against the wall, she smiled as I took hold of her wrists held her hands over her head and nibbled at her neck.

When I let go of her hands, she reached for the bottom of my t-shirt and pulled it over my head, then she dropped it unceremoniously on the floor.

We reached my bedroom first and I pulled her inside. We stood just inside and I pulled away a little. I put my hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. I asked her without words if she really wanted to do what we both knew was about to happen. I knew I was ready. I had felt for her for quite some time now.

Her answer to my silent question was to pull her tank top over her head and wrap her arms around my neck again nibbling at my ear.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

TBC

Ok. I am now relatively happy with this chapter, so I hope you guys liked it too.

Ps: constructive criticism always welcomed. Thank you so much Blackpanther2288 for saying what needed to be said. I agreed completely and I'm kinda glad I rewrote this chapter. Maybe I'll take another crack at a songfic some other time.


	8. 8The morning light

Robin Hood

By: ShalCat-Kitty

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

I am so sorry this chapter took so long. I find that sometimes you have to leave a story alone for a little while and think it through a bit before you continue. And I was super behind on some school work but now, there's practically no work to do in school.

Wow chapter 8 already, it seems it was only yesterday the bomb was going to explode. Oh wait. That hasn't happened yet because I went back 6 days. Well guess what. Only one day left.

Thank you everyone for your reviews on all the previous chapters. Your comments let me know that I'm writing for someone other than myself.

This Chapter is dedicated to the actors on Mutant x because they do a hell of a good job and I would never have inspiration for this story otherwise.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chapter 8: The Morning Light xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Emma: **_one day before chapter one_

I woke up but kept my eyes closed breathing deep. There was a split second of terror as I opened my eyes to find myself in foreign surroundings. Then with a glance at the pulled apart computer on the desk, my memory came back. I had to smile, I was in his room. The previous night had been… amazing. I had never thought of Jesse Kilmartin as the type to be… how could I put this? A bomb in bed.

I scolded myself for the thought immediately.

This had been a very interesting experience for both of us I guess, the way I had connected our minds was different. I had never done it before. It had almost been as if we were having a full-blown conversation, but there were no words. I loved the feeling, and wanted to feel it again. His mind was beautiful.

Right now he was sleeping. I could feel his warm breath on the back of my neck, it came in steady calm wisps. I decided against getting up early like normal. No one else was around and I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Besides, I didn't want to disturb the molecular from his peaceful slumber.

I let myself drift back into darkness.

When I woke up again he was shaking my arm lightly. "Emma honey, wake up." I opened my eyes and smiled up at him. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans but he still held his shirt in his hand. My eyes roamed over his bare chest. He smiled back and leaned over to kiss me. "Good morning."

"Morning." I said as I sat up pulling the sheet with me. "Um… My clothes." I smiled sheepishly. My clothes were scattered all over the room. So were his.

He chuckled as well at the sight.

"Maybe later we should clean that up." He said. "But right now I've got some thing for you."

"Really?" I raised my eyebrows in amusement.

"Here." He tossed me one of his shirts. "Put it on. Let's go. You can get dressed later." he smiled.

"Ok." I put his shirt on and he put one on as well. He held out his hand for me to take it, so I did. He pulled me down the hall and out to the main area.

It was beautiful. He had set up a small table and chairs. The chairs were not on opposite sides of the table but right beside eachother. And he had made breakfast.

"Jesse it's so sweet." I told him. He pulled me into a side hug, then led me over to the table.

"I thought you'd like it." We both sat down and started to eat.

He held his fork out with a piece of fruit for me to eat. "Jesse." I said when I had finished chewing.

"Hmm?" He mumbled with food in his mouth.

"What if the other's come home while we're eating. They'll see and they'll know." I said.

"Then they'll know." He smiled. "Just because Brennan and Shalimar hide what they have, doesn't mean we have to."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Brennan: **

Bright light blasted me in the face as I got to the top of the hill. I hadn't even noticed the sky starting to lighten. I couldn't believe it was morning already. After Shalimar left the safe house with Ashlock, I waited until they left the city then followed. That had been at almost 2 in the morning and now I was about a half an hour behind them. I wanted to stay back far enough that there was no way they would know I was following them.

I didn't want to catch up with them until they had stopped for good. This had meant going in circles. It was sunrise and they just seemed to start going somewhere. Perhaps when they stopped I would send the coordinates back to the others at sanctuary. I decided to stop for some coffee. In the last 48 hours I had only had about 5 hours of sleep. My brain was starting to shut down.

I walked into a café. The receiving end of the tracker never left my hand. While standing in line I glanced at the electronic map showing Shalimar's position, and the she wasn't anywhere.

The whole time I was there I watched the tracker. Silently hoping it would come back. Maybe I was too far away. My sleep-muddled mind couldn't understand.

When I got back on the highway, coffee in hand, I decided to notify the others of what was going on. They probably still thought I was at the safe house or something.

I activated my comlink

"Guys?"

"Hey Bren." Emma said giggling a little. "Where have you been, we were looking for you." She laughed.

"Yeah bro. Where've you been." Jesse entered the conversation snickering as well. I assumed that something funny was happening. I didn't feel like laughing though. Shalimar was in trouble and as far as they knew she was still missing.

"I'm going after Shalimar." I said. I didn't want to admit that I had temporarily lost her.

"**What?**" they both choked out, sobering up at once.

"You found her?" Emma said. The rest of the team had obviously had no luck finding her.

"More like she found me. Look. I'll fill you in later. I just wanted you guys to know I wasn't missing too."

"Ok Brennan. Have you seen Adam?" Jesse asked.

"No Dude why?" I asked back. I had just assumed that our leader had been there listening in.

"He took off yesterday a few hours after you did."

"And he hasn't contacted you?"

"Nope. Well I guess we'll let you know if we find anything." Jesse told me.

"I'll do the same. Later." I turned my concentration back to the road. After about 5 or six minutes the dot representing Shalimar reappeared on the screen. Her disappearance confused me, but she was back in my sights now.

After following the tracker for another three hours it finally stopped for good. I drove until I could just see the building on the horizon, it was out in the dessert so I could see it from pretty far away. As I got closer, it seemed to be some sort of old military base. After stranding my car where no one would see it, I walked slowly and carefully towards the outer fence. I found a spot and climbed over. Then as I got closer, there was another fence that was too high to climb and I didn't need to touch it to know that thousands of volts travelled through the bars. There were also guards patrolling the area.

There seemed to be only one way in and that was through the front door. I monitored the gate from a safe distance. Eventually I found my opening. The gate to get in only seemed to let in trucks for supplies and sometimes a guard or two. Any of the guards would obviously recognise that I was not one of them. So my only chance would be to get in with one of the trucks.

When one of them was coming, I tossed a stone at the side of the truck. They stopped to check what had happened, and when they weren't looking, I slid under the truck and held on tight. The men got back in and started moving again. We stopped briefly at the gate then proceeded inside.

When the truck again had come to a halt, I let myself down. I had found a small place for my feet, but the strain on my arms had still been painful. I rolled over onto my stomach and looked out from under the truck.

To the right I could see the loading bay where the men from the truck were carrying crates of who knew what. To the left there were stacks of more crates, that I assumed would be leaving with the truck. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I rolled to the left and ducked behind the stack of crates.

From there being careful to stay out of sight, I made my way around the corner of the building. There I found a back door. Before I went through I decided to notify Jesse and Emma of my situation.

"Hey Jess." Nothing

"Emma?" Nothing again. I concluded that the base had some sort of signal jamming device. They would have to find their own way there.

I gave the control panel a quick zap from my finger and the door opened. I glanced inside looking both ways down the corridor. The coast was clear, so I went inside closing the door behind me.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Jesse:**

After finishing breakfast, Emma and I picked up the clothing that covered my bedroom floor. Then the two of us set to work trying to find out anything about the Strand that might lead us to their hideout. Although from the brief conversation with Brennan, it seemed he already had it under control.

He was following Shalimar. How, or why escaped me, he had been very vague with the details. She might lead him to the strand or who knows where, especially if she was under Ashlock or Will's control.

After a few hours with no results I was stressed out.

I was leaning back in my chair after another failed attempt to hack a Genomex facility when I heard static on my com link. I looked over at the psionic on the couch confused. It hadn't been her. A few seconds later she got a weird look on her face then looked at me with the same confused look I must have had on my face.

"Brennan?" She stated more than asked to not just me. Hoping he would answer, if it was him.

"Hey Brennan. Is that you?" I asked. The coms were silent once again. I spun around back to the computer. "I'll trace his com link signal." I tapped into the com system in the computer.

Emma moved across the room and leaned over my shoulder to see better. "Are you sure it was him?" she said right by my ear. Her warm breath was extremely distracting.

"I am now." On the screen was the status of our three missing friends' com links. "Shalimar's and Adam's are both disengaged and Brennan's is active, but it's not transmitting."

"Maybe he's unconscious." She suggested.

"That still wouldn't explain why I can't trace it." I sighed in frustration.

"Here let me." She draped herself over my shoulders and started typing. "If we can find the last place it transmitted from. Then maybe we can find Brennan." She explained, her delicate fingers flew over the keyboard and her chin rested on my shoulder. "Here you go." As she spoke, I could feel the vibrations from her voice box and I could still feel her damned breath on my ear. I wondered if she was aware of how she was effecting me, or was her torture unintentional. "The last place it shows here is a little past where he contacted us this morning."

"Ok so what could have happened?" I thought out loud. "I'll try pulling up a virtual simulation of the last 15 minutes before his com stopped transmitting. Speed 60 x normal should be good enough. It might give us an idea as to what happened." Emma moved her hands away from the keyboard to let me try my idea, but she stayed behind me wrapping her arms around me instead of typing.

"Ok." She pointed to the screen. "He stopped here for a little. Maybe we should check it out."

"Yeah. Lets go." I was glad for a chance to get outside. I didn't want to be stuck inside sanctuary all day. Also being that close to Emma I feared that nothing would get done.

When we got to the location, it turned out to be a café. I asked the woman behind the counter if she had seen Brennan. I held up a photo of him.

She shook her head. "No I just got here an hour ago."

"Are you sure there's no one else here who might have seen him." Emma said hopefully. I could tell she was reading the woman behind the counter.

"Look sweetheart. I'm sorry, but any employees on staff that would have seen him have all gone home." I put my hand on Emma's shoulder. I could sense that she was feeling helpless, worried and frustrated. It wasn't that hard to figure out because I was feeling the same things.

The two of us started to turn away and the woman spoke up. "Wait a second." I turned around. "There is one person but it's a long shot." We both nodded enthusiastically. "Ok. That man over there," the woman pointed to a small table at the back. "He sits here all day sometimes, maybe he was here this morning when your friend came through."

"Thank you so much." Emma waved back to the woman as we made our way over to the small table in the back. As we got closer, the man put his coffee down.

"Excuse me sir." I said. "Were you here this morning around sunrise?"

The man nodded. "Yeah. I was here. By the way call me Greg"

Emma smiled and held up the photo of Brennan. "Did you see this man come in here this morning Greg?" She sounded hopeful.

"Yeah." Greg looked us over. "Are you guys detectives or something? Cause you sure don't look like it."

I was a little bit taken aback by his question.

Emma opened her mouth to say something but I cut her off. "We can't really answer that question, but anything you can tell us would be a big help." I tried to make myself sound like one of those detectives you see on TV Emma caught on immediately and started looking around the room as if anyone there could be a suspect.

"Was there anything about this man this seemed suspicious to you in any way?" she asked with her back facing the two of us. Trying to look inconspicuous.

"Um. Well. He had a palm-pilot or GPS thing that he kept looking at the whole time he was here and he looked like he hadn't had any sleep in 2 days." Greg answered just as I had wanted him to. By letting him think that we were detectives, he thought he was doing a service to the public.

"Thank you. That information could very well help us find him." Emma and I turned to go. "Goodbye Greg."

Discouraged that we had found nothing, we headed back to sanctuary.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Robin:**

"It doesn't make any sense Robin." Adam said. "Shalimar, really." I had just told him what I had seen two days before.

"Yes Adam. I'm absolutely sure it was her." We were in the same warehouse we had been at just a few days past when I had given him my prophecy.

"Ok tell me exactly what happened." He said crossing his arms.

"Three days ago Gabriel had me find info that he would be meeting someone at a warehouse, so I passed the info to you. I really thought I was helping, but he used me to get to her. I'm so sorry Adam. If I had known, I never would have betrayed you. The next morning when they took her, they brought her back to the old base of the GSA." I told him.

I looked to Adam and he nodded in understanding. So I continued. "When one of the links told me that we had captured one of Mutant X's members, I knew that Gabriel had used me. I went to see who it was, and to see if I could do anything to help them escape." I looked down at my hands. I couldn't look him in the eyes.

I continued again. "I heard someone say that _"She wasn't talking."_ So I knew that it was either Emma or Shalimar. As I got closer to the lab where they were holding her, I heard more and more about what was going on. They were questioning her."

I looked up and I couldn't read the emotion in his eyes. He didn't say anything so I looked away and started talking again. "I was almost there when one of the links walked past me holding a bloody cloth to his face. I heard him say, _"The blond bitch broke my nose." _So I knew it was Shalimar because I had met Emma already and she's a red head. What I wasn't ready for was…" I couldn't think of a way to put it. "She was the one in my vision, the blond one."

"Ok" He seemed to be working things out in his mind so I decided to keep talking and tell him about what I was supposed to be doing right now.

"Some one caught me watching as they questioned Shalimar. He took me to Ashlock who told me that I was going to lure you to our new base. He said that I should tell you that we are going to break in but actually bring you to him instead."

"Wait a second." Adam said. "If he knows that you know he used you, why would he expect you to do what he said?" he asked I was glad to have distracted him from his thinking. Let him think about that once we were done with the Strand.

"He threatened Will. I guess he didn't factor in that I would figure out that it was Will who had betrayed you before I did." I frowned slightly. "I should have known from the beginning that he was working for Ashlock. It's just like him, work for the highest bidder, good guy or bad guy. It doesn't matter to him."

He put his hand on my shoulder. "It's hard sometimes to see the bad in the ones we love." There seemed to be more to what he was telling me, but I didn't understand.

"We need to come up with a plan." I said. He seemed to think for a moment.

"Ok I've got it."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Shalimar:**

It was disgraceful the way I acted and I couldn't believe I wasn't slipping up. I followed Ashlock around like a faithful little puppy dog and I loathed myself for letting him kiss me the way he did. No self-respecting woman would let him treat her like that. I did, but my intention was not to show my self-respect. I had to play along as long as possible to give information to my team.

I couldn't slip up lest the lives of my friends be forfeit or even my own if I could withstand whatever torture they inflicted to get information from me. What was I going to do? I was so tired and sick of patient zero. I wanted to rip his throat out if it would stop his horrible speech about how we were going to crush mutant x.

When we had arrived at the new base he escorted me to a room where he gave a speech and as his newest speech came to a close, he pulled me into a hug and kissed me. The thought of it alone made me sick but there was nothing I could do. I couldn't lose my cover when I was so close to finding out why I was so important to his master plan whatever it might have been.

Of course all of the links cheered, although not many of them knew what the plan was, they all knew I was important to it. If Ashlock had me under his control, he were going to succeed in whatever task he wanted. I pitied most of them because they had no idea that they weren't really that important. They were completely expendable to patient zero, every last one of them.

I hadn't seen Robin yet, but I would have liked to talk to her. I knew that her brother had betrayed us, but I trusted Adam's judgement. I knew that Brennan after getting back to sanctuary had most likely gotten into a fight with Adam over that exact topic. I had guessed at Adam's opinion of her by the small clues that maybe only I had picked up on.

His temperature rose a little when he talked about her, he breathed a little harder too. Yet his reaction had only been for Robin and not her Brother. He had feelings for her. Adam was usually a pretty good judge of character so I believed that she hadn't meant to betray us. If I could find her, maybe she could help me get out of the new base. I didn't know my way around any of the back halls or anything.

We were walking down one of the main hallways toward a dining area and my thoughts stopped all together for a second. I sensed something. It was something I was used to but I wouldn't expect it here. It was there. I was sure of it, a smell completely unique to one person and one person alone. There was no way it could be though. I took a deep breath and tried to find it again, but it was gone. _Brennan. _It couldn't have been. He was back at sanctuary, waiting for my call. He had to be. The lack of sleep was getting to my senses.

Ashlock and myself were sitting down to eat lunch and a one of the links came in the door of the private dining area.

"Excuse me Sir. M-m-Mr. Ashlock s-s-Sir." The nervous young man stammered. "There's a call for you." He looked down at his feet.

"Ok." Ashlock turned to me. "Go on and eat without me. I'll see you later. Why don't you have a look around and get acquainted with the base? I'll be in my quarters if you need me." I couldn't believe it. He was giving me free reign to explore the base and I definitely planned on taking full advantage of it. After contacting the others of course.

When I finished eating. I left the dining area and left to explore the base. I found a safe place to contact the others and activated my com ring.

"Hey guys." I said. I couldn't wait to hear their relieved voices.

Nothing. I waited a few seconds and still nothing.

"Anyone?" I asked. Something was very wrong. "Somebody?"

I was so wrapped up in trying to contact the others, that I didn't sense the men behind me before they grabbed me. I estimated at least four of them. I could take them. I struggled a bit and almost had myself free when I felt a sudden stabbing pain in the back of my neck. It was a subdermal governor. Even though I had never had one before, I knew immediately what it was. I couldn't fight back as five more links joined in the effort to drag me away, one of them taking my ring.

"I knew she was up to no good." I heard one of them say. "I told him, but he wouldn't listen." The voice I recognised as one of Ashlock's higher officers. "Lets take her to him and see what he has to say now that I have proof." The man said. I knew then that I was in trouble, deep, deep trouble.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

TBC 

Ok I am so very sorry that this chapter took so long. I blanked out for a little bit and I started reading this really awsome series of books so I feel really bad about being slow.

_(loveconqures: Thank you for your permission to do that stuff. I love your stories so much. Ps. canI put walt whitman quotes at the end of my stories too? it's just such an amazing idea.)_


	9. The plan and the questions

Robin Hood

By: ShalCat-Kitty

Disclaimer: See chapter 1: Also I would like to tell everyone that the way that the governor affects Shalimar is not my idea! Sure, I might add to it a little, but it came from a favorite author of mine called Loveconqures.

This is starting to get confusing because I wrote the first chapter so long ago and now I have to make everything match up. I have a basic outline of what I want to happen but I get myself all twisted around in the small details. If there's something that doesn't match up or that your confused about don't be afraid to ask and I'll do my best to answer.

Again. My gravest apologies for how long it took this chapter to be written. I feel so bad that every chapter I post takes longer and longer to write. I feel like I'm letting you guys down.

I thought that it being summer, I would have more time to write, but I really got into a good series of books and couldn't stop myself from reading in all my free time. This series unfortunately for me is under the list of authors that we're not supposed to write fanfictions for.

I have decided to dedicate this chapter to Mr. Terry Goodkind even though I can never write a fanfiction for his amazing work. His books are so inspirational and I think he deserves some credit.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chapter 9: The Plan and the Questions xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Adam:**

After explaining my plan to Robin, she pulled a communicator out of her pocket and moved away from me to talk to Ashlock. While explaining my plan she had told me that the new base had a signal jamming device that her communicator had been adjusted to work outside of. She said that the jamming device worked within approximately a three-hour drive of the base. Signals could only be picked up if both the sender and the receiver were inside the jamming zone.

This was going to be a dangerous mission and I didn't want the others to remain in contact or follow me. On the other hand I would want to contact them eventually. In light of these things, I decided two things. First was to adjust my com ring so that they couldn't trace it when it was deactivated and second was that we would disable the jamming device while inside the base.

When I finished with that, Robin had finished calling Ashlock. It was time to contact the others at sanctuary and be on our way.

"Guy's?" I asked to no one in specific, hoping that all three of them were at sanctuary and would stay out of the way.

"Hey Adam. What's up?" Jesse's voice greeted me on the other end.

"I had some things to take care of. Has Brennan come back yet?" Jesse went silent, but I could hear a muffled conversation going on between him and someone else.

"Adam we um… lost him." Emma said. I was a little confused and was about to ask when Jesse cut in.

"We're trying our best to find him though." He sounded like he was hiding something, but I was about to do the same thing so I let it slip.

"Ok Robin and I have devised a plan to stop Ashlock and whatever his endgame is." I knew they would ask lots of questions if I gave them room. So I kept talking. "I know you guys want to know how and where and all sorts of other things. Its complicated but I can't be interrupted on this one… and don't try to follow me, it will be a futile effort. Let's just say, don't call me, I'll call you." I quickly deactivated my ring before they could get a word in edgewise.

"Ok" I turned to Robin. "Lets get going. It's going to be a long drive."

We made a quick stop to pick up some equipment from a friend of mine who owed me a favour, then set out.

As we started out on the six-hour trip we went over the plan making adjustments where they were needed and decided that we would go over it once more right before we got there.

Neither of us really spoke other than that for most of the trip, we just sat back and listened to the radio. It was probably around five hours into the trip when Robin spoke up.

"Adam. This is very dangerous. What if you don't get out before it blows?" She looked like she was concentrated on driving, but I knew she was watching for my reaction out of the corner of her eye.

I tried my best to keep a calm visage even though I was concerned about the same problem. What if one of us didn't make it out before the bomb went off? "It will be ok. Just give us some extra time to get out just in case there are complications." I said. We both slipped into silence again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Shalimar:**

Pain. Brennan had explained to me once the pain, but there was nothing that could have prepared me for what the subdermal governor felt like. It was the most unexplainable pain, almost as if some one were trying to rip out your spine. This pain was constant though. I suspected that because I was a feral it wouldn't shut off because unlike other mutants, I couldn't turn off my powers.

I didn't know where I was or how long I had been there. I was only just waking up from what I hoped was a very bad dream. I shifted my weight a little and held my breath from the pain that ripped through my shoulders. Nope. It wasn't a bad dream.

I was in the most uncomfortable position. I wasn't standing, but I couldn't lie down. Chains that cut into my wrists were holding up most of my weight. So I was half sitting, slumped against the wall with my legs underneath me, and my arms above my head. There were also chains around my ankles.

I tried my best to stand up slowly to relieve the pull on my arms. Once I was standing I looked around the room and came face to face with someone right in front of me. Why hadn't I sensed him there with me? Why hadn't I seen him.

"Well, nice of you to join us in the world of the living. I was starting to think you weren't as strong as I thought you were." His smug smile startled me gravely. There was anger behind his smile and Gabriel Ashlock was not someone you wanted to piss off.

"How could I stay away from you? Your just so… charismatic." I mocked him letting out a short laugh. Why not? He was already pissed off. For my joke I received a punch in the jaw.

"Come now Shalimar. Don't provoke me. It will do you no good." He scolded me like a child.

He laughed as I looked down and tried to bring my hand up to wipe away the few drops of blood I could feel on my lip. The chain on my wrist wasn't longer than a few inches so I couldn't reach very far. I pulled on my chains as hard as I could but they wouldn't budge. Normally I could have ripped them out of the wall. What was wrong with me?

I growled at him and flashed my eyes. This only added to the constant pain running up my spine. I inhaled sharply and closed my eyes. He laughed again. "You're only succeeding in hurting yourself darling."

He got closer to me then, as if he was going to kiss me. I turned my head to the side. He punched me in the middle and when I fell a little, he grabbed my chin forcefully and pulled me up to look him in the eyes.

When I got my footing back, he leaned forward and licked the blood from my lip. A disgusted shiver ran through me. I despised this guy.

"Now Shalimar, there are some things that I need you to tell me." He let go of my chin and I set my jaw, determinedly staring him in the eyes. He could ask all he wanted. I would tell him nothing. "You really are quite the actress, too bad you couldn't go without calling your little friends." He held up my ring in front of my face. "Clever little device here, I never would have thought it was a communicator. Your so called friends, they didn't answer did they?" he said.

"They would have." I answered his question trying my best to sound threatening.

"No they wouldn't have Shalimar. They've abandoned you. Why do you think they haven't come to your rescue? You are of no use to them. They've just been waiting for a chance to get rid of you." I knew it was all lies. They couldn't risk going to such an armed base, just the four of them. They knew I could handle myself.

"Right." I said sarcastically. "They're not like you Ashlock. They will think of a way to get in here if I don't get out on my own." He punched me in the face again for my remark.

"Where is sanctuary, and how do I get in?" he had switched to serious now. Maybe my taunting was getting to him more than he let on. I didn't answer his question. His fist contacted with the other side of my face with more force than before.

"Do you really think you can beat the answers out of me Ashlock?" I spat in his face quite literally hoping I could upset him even more. I knew he needed me for his endgame, so if I couldn't escape, I could at least make him kill me and screw up his plan.

To be truthful, I was starting doubt if I could get out. With the governor I couldn't muster enough strength to break the chains and even if the others could get to the base. How would they find me?

He punched me a few more times. "Oh You will Answer my questions." He went to the door and ushered someone inside. I didn't recognize them. The link looked a little bit intimidating, but that meant nothing to me.

"Come on Ashlock. If not for these chains and this governor, I could take this guy to pieces. Why don't you just torture me yourself?" What was he thinking this guy could do to me that he couldn't?

"Well Shalimar. You see, James here has a power that I think will be quite motivating for you." Ashlock said and James stepped toward me palms up. Fire appeared above each palm and that was when I started to panic. I didn't mean to but I let out a small yelp in fear.

As James got closer to me I tried to back away but there was nowhere to go. I flattened myself against the wall as much as I could. My breathing quickened and I couldn't think. Fire, right there in front of me. All I wanted to do was run away. I screamed unable to keep control of my fear. God damn him Ashlock, why did it have to be fire.

James brought the fire from both hands together and started to make the fireball bigger as it got closer to my face. I screamed again. "Please stop. No Please." I was irrational now.

I couldn't breath, I couldn't think, I couldn't get away. "Tell me what I want to know Shalimar and we can end this." Ashlock said.

I shook my head. "I can't." I could feel tears running down my face. "I won't." Ashlock signaled to James and the fire touched my arm. I screamed again. What was I going to do?

There was an urgent knock on the door. Ashlock waved a hand at James who put out his fireball. I let out a huge breath. Ashlock was talking to someone out in the hall. I couldn't hear what the other man was saying, but Ashlock didn't like it.

"What!" He shouted loud enough for me to hear. The other man's muffled reply was to quiet for me to hear. Ashlock reentered the room followed by five or six links. "Take her to the other room." He instructed them. "Don't worry sweetheart. We'll finish this later." he winked at me.

I smiled trying not to show him how upset I still was. "You really think these grunts can hold me? Even with this governor, I'll kick your scumbag ass if you take off these chains."

He whirled away from the man he was talking to. "Who said you would be conscious." Someone behind me pressed a finger to my neck and I blacked out.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Brennan:**

It had been almost 5 hours and I still couldn't find her. I was sure that I had searched almost the whole base. For the first hour I had followed the tracker to Shalimar's jacket which she was no longer wearing. I left the tracker there in hopes that maybe she would pick up her jacket later. The tracker had not moved since then. I made my way around through a few places I had been before looking for something I had missed. I turned a corner and found myself in a deserted hallway. I went quietly down the corridor looking in the windows of all the doors. No Shalimar.

I glanced at the receiving end of the tracker again for the millionth time. The tracker was motionless. I sighed and peeked around the next corner to see if the coast was clear. It wasn't. There weren't very many places left to search and the hallway around the corner was one of them.

Down at the other end there were at least six or seven links. They were all waiting outside a door. One of them I had seen before talking to Ashlock.

I turned around to make sure no one was coming down the hall I was in. I was too late, a fist came at my face before I could see who it was. I quickly ducked and jabbed. I caught whoever it was in the middle and they doubled over. I quickly stepped away to get a look at them.

It was Will. This was the guy responsible for all of our problems lately. I was almost overjoyed that it had been him to catch me. He was the one who had made me think that Shalimar was dead. For everything else, I wouldn't have wanted to kill him but for that heartache he was going to pay.

When he recovered the two of us started to fight. He was a good fighter, fast and strong. That was something I had expected. He may have been a good fighter, but I was better. At one point, I knocked him backwards and started to form a tesla coil. I was getting bored I just wanted him dead.

"That won't work Brennan." He said.

I laughed. "Do you actually think I'm going to fall for that again. Your powers don't work if I don't want them to." I said shaking my head.

Will was now standing between me and the hallway I needed to go down. "I don't need my powers." Will gloated although I didn't understand why.

There was a scream and it sounded like Shalimar. It came from down the hallway. I stopped forming my tesla coil and ran at Will hoping to get past him. If Shalimar was screaming, she was no longer keeping her cover and that meant I had to get to her, now more than ever.

Before I could take a step someone grabbed me from behind. I didn't know how many of them there were. I felt the sharp, familiar pain of a subdermal governor being implanted. Will smiled at me. "A subdermal governor will work perfectly fine." I really didn't like his smug smile.

Shalimar screamed again and this time I was absolutely sure it was her. I tried as hard as I could to get away from the links holding me. I had to get to her. The Shalimar I knew wasn't scared of anything. Why would she of all people be screaming? Then it hit me, Fire. They must be torturing her with fire. How could they do that to her?

As the links dragged me around the corner I could see that one of them had run ahead and was almost at the door at the other end of the hall. Shalimar screamed again and it sent knives through my heart to hear it. I pulled against the arms restraining me as hard as I could. There were too many of them, it was hopeless.

The link that had been sent ahead knocked on the door and after a moment Ashlock came out. The two of them were talking and once the link explained that I was there, Ashlock shouted. "What!" and looked my way. I didn't know if he saw it or not, but I smiled at him anyway.

The link responded. Then Ashlock told the five or six mutants outside the door to follow him in. They went back inside as I was slowly dragged down the hall. I couldn't hear what was being said but I was pretty sure I heard Shalimar's voice and she sounded scared.

The links kept dragging me down the hall. I wanted to get to Shalimar, but I wouldn't do it their way if I had any say in it. I was hoping that if they had to drag me maybe they would mess up and it would be easier for me to escape.

They had probably dragged me halfway down the hall when the door opened again. There were six or seven of them dragging Shalimar away. The instant I saw her I gave a quick and decisive pull and managed to break away from my captures.

"Shalimar!" I shouted while running at breakneck speed. Ashlock stepped in front of me and put a hand up. I ran into what felt like a solid wall. He had used his powers to create a shield. I pounded my fists against his fake wall as Shalimar got further away. She must have been unconscious, she wasn't moving at all.

"Where are you taking her?" I shouted before I was grabbed from behind by the links that had been holding me before. Once they had me again. Ashlock let down his shield. I was pulled into the room where they had had Shalimar and they attached chains to my wrists and ankles.

I looked at the chains around my wrists. There was blood on them. Oh god, it was Shalimar's. I pulled as hard as I could against the chains and the links backed away. That was a good sign. They were scared of me. Well I would have been too. I was really pissed.

Ashlock stepped up in front of me. "You know what Mulwray, you just don't know when to give up do you?" he shook his head.

"Well my parents did always tell me I was a stubborn troublemaker." I said nonchalantly. He punched me in the middle and I doubled over. He then proceeded to knee me in the chin.

"You and that blond bitch. You are very alike. You both love to piss me off." As I stood up he got me in the middle again. "But that doesn't matter because eventually one of you will tell me where sanctuary is and how to get in." he smiled.

"You see Brennan I know you care about her, it's quite obvious. But if you don't answer my questions, I might just have to ask her." He started pacing in front of me now.

"Brennan. I know you wouldn't want that because she is more stubborn than you and that would mean I might have to make her scream the answers." He stopped to look me in the eyes.

"I won't tell you anything Ashlock. Neither will she. You know that, so why do you insist on asking… oh yeah. I forgot. You just love to hear yourself talk don't you?" I laughed. "Do you really think anyone else cares what you say? They're all just scared of you, that's the only reason they listen."

Ashlock shook his head. "Ok Brennan. If that's the way you want it." He reached down and took the ring from my finger. "I love these rings." He put his other hand in a pocket and took out Shalimar's ring. "Now that I have two, it's starting to become quite the collection maybe when the others come for you two I can get some more. That's what these are for right? For tracking eachother, for talking.

"Well I think it just cute that you all wear matching little rings. You're almost like a club." I didn't know what he was getting at but I was getting bored.

"Yeah." I said. "Sort of like a club. No psychopaths allowed. Guess you can't join." I said sympathetically then laughed at my own joke.

"So your little club, why did they decide to send you to rescue Shalimar? Hmm? Is it because you love her?" he smiled. "Well back at your so called safe house, that must have been fun for you." Now I knew what he was getting at. He was trying to lure me into saying something by teasing me.

"I know I had fun watching her taunt you. That must have hurt when she slapped you." He grabbed my chin where he had kneed me. "I hope it hurt. That it was the one you love made it all the more fun to watch." I blocked it out. I wouldn't let him see any pain in my eyes.

"Ok." Ashlock said. "He won't tell us anything yet. Take him to the other room. I have some business to attend to. I will ask them later, and maybe I won't be so nice about it."

So the links took me to the room where they were holding Shalimar. It was more like a prison cell than a room, but I didn't care. She was there and she was alive. They threw me into the room and shut the door. I almost wish it had been dark. I wouldn't have had to see the bruises. I bit back tears for the angry purple spots that marred her perfect skin. I ran my knuckles over her cheek incensed at what Ashlock had done to her.

She was still unconscious. I lifted her up carefully and laid her down carefully against the back wall of the small room. I sat down beside her and lifted her up so her head was in my lap. At least she could sleep comfortably.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Emma:**

After our conversation with Adam, I had traced his last signal to an abandon warehouse. We hadn't gone right away though to check the place out. We instead opted to wait a few hours just in case Shalimar, Brennan, or Adam called, but all three of their com rings were deactivated.

It was possible to track the com rings while they were deactivated, but it was a lengthy procedure that took hours. So far we had only tried Brennan's but it was hopeless. We couldn't find him. We assumed that Shalimar's would be the same and Adam himself had told us that trying to follow him would be futile.

We had decided that only I would go to the warehouse to look for any type of clue. Jesse needed to stay at sanctuary and monitor the computers and make sure that nothing changed while I wasn't there.

When I got to the warehouse. I quickly walked through it once to look for obvious things. There was nothing.

"Jesse." I started. "There's nothing here as far as I can tell, but I've only given it a once over. I'm gonna stick around and see if there's anything I didn't catch at first glance. I'm getting a weird vibe off of this place. I think there was more to what Adam was telling us."

"Honey." He sighed in response. "You won't find anything there. Adam said it would be futile, and I'm willing to bet he's right. We just need to wait until he calls us." Oh did I forget to mention that Jesse didn't really think it necessary to search the warehouse.

"I don't know Jesse. I've just got a feeling about this." There were new aspects of my powers that I was uncovering almost by the day. In this warehouse there seemed to be almost like an emotional residue left over and I wanted to discover exactly what it was.

"Please Emma just come back to sanctuary." He pleaded with me. He was somehow immune to my powers so I wasn't privy to his feelings unless he shared them with me. Without powers, I could easily guess that he was feeling useless and unhelpful like I myself was starting to feel. I knew we would pull through it though.

"Jesse I need to do this to feel like I'm actually helping. Even if I don't find anything." I told him.

"Ok Emma. But please come back as soon as you're done. I miss you baby." He seemed to understand… but he said he missed me.

"Jesse I've only been gone for half an hour." I smiled.

"Still too long." I could practically hear him pout.

"Ok see you soon." I said good bye. When our conversation was over. I missed his voice. Even if I thought he was making fun of me.

I wandered a little more around the warehouse. I was getting a weird feeling and eventually I was drawn to a room. It looked like Adam and Robin had been there. Not like they had left anything behind, but I could feel Robin's feelings almost like she was there with me.

There was a crate against a wall and when I stood close to it, I got a sudden blast of emotions. I couldn't see what Robin's vision had been, but I could feel what she felt when she saw it. I don't know how I knew it was Robin's vision, it just made sense.

I could feel pain and suffering, then it changed to happiness. What was going on? I decided I had had enough of the warehouse.

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**Jesse:**

When my conversation with Emma ended. I missed her voice. I was sick of everything that was going on. All three of our friends missing and there was nothing we could do to find them. I wanted desperately to do something to help or just get away.

Then a thought struck me. I could program the computer to notify me through my com link if anything changed. That way Emma and I would be free to relax away from the computers. I thought it was making us both a little crazy not being able to do anything while all of our friends were missing. I understood why Emma had to search the warehouse.

We could have dinner or sit and watch a movie. Just something to get our minds off of everything. My mind also wandered back to the previous nights' activities. That was always an option and it would keep us distracted.

I quickly set to work, rigging the computer systems to notify me via com link if anything were to change. When I finished with that I got on the phone with an old friend.

"Jesse. I haven't heard from you in ages. How have you been?" the voice on the other end belonged to none other that of Tony Kilmartin my father's cousin, and one of the only friends I had kept after joining Mutant X and leaving home.

"Tony I need your help and if memory serves right you owe me a favor." I said.

"That I do my boy. What can I do you for?" he asked.

"Reservations for two at Chez Rio, 9:30 tonight." Tony knew everyone who was anyone and I was pretty sure he could pull this off.

"Jesse you dog, you finally got yourself a girl. Congrats buddy. The reservations won't be a problem. Have fun."

"Thanks a million Tony, maybe you could meet her sometime." I said.

"Sure. See you soon." He said.

"You too." I hung up the phone and called Emma back on the com ring.

"Hey Em you done yet?" I asked

"Yeah I'm on my way back right now I should be there in another ten minutes." her tone changed. "Why?"

"No reason." I said suspiciously.

Ten minutes later she got back and I quickly pulled her into a hug. "I have a surprise for you." She rolled her eyes.

"What is it now Jesse?" She whined like a little kid.

"You'll see, but first you'll have to get dressed." I started to pull her toward her room.

"Jesse I am dressed." She sighed giving up on trying to figure out what I had planned.

"Well you have to change." We got to her room then and I walked over to her closet and took out a couple of dresses that she had there. I put them all in one place apart from her other clothing "One of these." I said pointing to the dresses. She looked at me smiling and raised an eyebrow. "Have a shower and get changed, I'll be back when I've done the same." I left then Off to my own room.

Half an hour later we were both ready to go. When we entered the city, I stopped the car and leaned over placing a kiss on Emma's forehead before blindfolding her. "Well be there soon." I told her.

When we got to the restaurant, I got out and helped Emma out of the car. "Jesse, you know I hate not being able to see. Can I take it off now?"

"Uh-huh." I acknowledged and pointed her toward the restaurant so she would see exactly where we were going when she could see.

"Oh Jesse. Wow." She turned around and kissed me. "How did you-" I silenced her with a kiss.

"That's none of your business Ms. Delauro." We went inside were taken to one of the more private areas of the restaurant.

We didn't really get a chance to speak until we had ordered and were waiting for our food.

"Jesse. What if something happens to one of the others?" Emma seemed uneasy.

I smiled and held up my hand. "I set up the computers to notify me if anything changes." She smiled and started to and relaxed. She sat quietly for a few minutes and she still seemed uneasy.

"What's wrong?" I asked concerned. She shook her head.

"While at the warehouse, I think I picked up the feelings that Robin had when she had a vision." She looked down at the table. "Whatever it was, it was fading, it could have been a couple of day's old."

"It'll be ok Emma." I reached over and put my hand over hers lightly. "When this is all over, we'll ask Adam about it ok." She smiled and nodded. "But for now forget about Mutant X, forget about Ashlock. Let just have a good time, you and I."

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**TBC**

I hope I haven't made you folks wait too long. See you next chapter.


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